


Expecting

by fandomtrash1224



Series: Expecting [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Cheating, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, M/M, Mpreg, Original Character(s), also, but sort of, enjoy, i think ive tagged soo many useless things, like oh my gawd, more smut in chapter like 16-ish, never mind, not really - Freeform, smut in chapter one, so if you're here for smut, so that was nice, some more smut eventually but mainly in chapter one, someone on wattpad said it was delicious, still so much angst, stupid gender reveal in a chapter that i dont remember about, thats were you find it, whatever
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2019-05-14 17:17:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 83,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14773847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomtrash1224/pseuds/fandomtrash1224
Summary: Nico and Percy have one magical night, and it leads to something...unexpected? Now, they have to deal with all the consequences, and it's more than just the sweet little baby...





	1. A Night to Remember

“Remember when you had that crush on me,” Percy smiled as he took another sip of his beer. “Two years ago, right?”

Nico hid his head in his hands in embarrassment. It was true, he was madly in love with Percy when he was younger, then he found Will. Will and Nico were still a couple, and still going strong, but after awhile, there relationship had changed. They still loved each other, but they were no longer in a ‘honeymoon’ phase, and were now in two years of dating phase where a lot of the romance was gone.

“Yes,” Nico said shyly, also taking a sip of beer. He was enjoying this, talking to Percy, bonding. Granted, he was only 17, Percy was 19, and they were both under legal drinking age, but Connor and Travis were honestly amazing at smuggling. “Quite a huge one, actually,”

“Really?” Percy asked, looking down at Nico, smiling.

“Yeah,” Nico replies. “Worshipped the ground you’d walked on for awhile,” Nico let out a sigh. “Don’t worry now, I finally realized how stupid you were,” Nico laughed.

“I’m not that stupid,” He mumbled. Percy let out a sigh. “I had a bit of a thing for you once, which was a bit weird. Not because it was you, you’re hot,” Percy rambled. Nico knew he must have been a bit buzzed, “but it was because you were a guy. I told Annabeth about the whole thing, she asked if I was breaking up with her, I said no. I don’t regret it...but, sometimes I do think...it’s not important,”

Nico knew Percy was a bit drunk, but so was Nico, and that gave him a burst of confidence. He wiggled closer to Percy. “You liked me?” Nico asked. Noticing how his face began flushing. 

“Yeah,” Percy also got closer down to Nico, they were sitting down by the foot of the bed, the only light in Cabin 13 was coming from a few candles placed around the room, and the moonlight shining through the window. “I liked you a lot,”

Nico leaned in closer to Percy. There lips inches from each other. “You did?” He breathed. He could smell the beer on Percy’s breath.

“Mmhmm,” He mumbled huskily, making Nico shiver. Percy leaned in connecting their lips. The kiss was sweet and gentle, and one of the best feelings Nico had ever felt. Percy’s lips were soft and tasted of the sea. Nico didn’t even try to win dominance in the kiss. He let Percy win easily, and was loving every second of it.

Percy broke the kiss, his hands resting on the paler boys hips. “Y-You’re okay with this? I don’t want to do anything you don’t want--”

Nico grabbed the collar of Percy’s shirt. He looked into his shining green eyes and panted the words out, his heart racing from the intensity of the kiss. “I’ve never wanted anything more,”

At these words, Percy grabbed Nico’s hips tighter, pulling them up, before carefully laying him down onto the floor. Nico had never meant words more. Percy was the right amount of rough and gentle as the older demigod rolled his hips on Nico’s.

Percy slowly pulled themselves back up off the ground, leaning Nico against the bed. They continued to passionately kiss for a few moments before they were now laying down against the black comforter of the bunk. Nico placed his lips onto Percy’s neck, leaving a dark red hickey.

Nico felt Percy’s hand wrap around his groin. The son of Poseidon's hand began to fiddle with Nico’s belt. This action caused the younger boy’s breath to hitch. At this, Percy pulled away, his eyes asking for permission, to which Nico nodded to in agreement quickly.

Once Nico’s belt was off, Percy worked on unzipping his black skinny jeans. Nico wanted this, he wanted this so much. He was dying to feel every inch of Percy’s skin. He had been wanting to do this for forever.

Clothes were coming off between the love-filled kisses. Eventually the two boys were only in there boxers, rubbing there erections against each other, both of them wanting to get as much from this moment as possible.

“P-Percy,” Nico panted. He bucked his hips up, a moan escaping his lips at the new sensation. “P-Please, I-I-” Nico didn’t know how to say it. He didn’t know how to tell his childhood crush that he wanted him inside of him, to go hard, to go fast, to not stop until Nico couldn’t walk straight for the next day.

Percy started to nibble at Nico’s neck, definitely leaving marks, and Nico enjoyed the thought of being marked. “What Nico?” Percy asked kissing, sucking, and biting his neck and collar bones. “What do you want?”

Nico struggled with his words. “I-I-I w-want,” He couldn’t get it out. He knew what he wanted, but he was having such a problem saying it. The words just wouldn’t form. “Y-You, I, P-Please,” Was the best Nico could produce. 

Percy didn’t need to be told twice. He began going lower down onto Nico’s stomach, licking down his thin, yet muscular stomach. Once he got down to Nico’s underwear waistband, he traced a finger left to right, causing Nico to squirm with anticipation.

“Has anyone--” Percy kissed along Nico’s waistline. “--ever told you--” He planted another kiss, a few inches to the left, “--you have--” another kiss. “--Amazing--” another kiss. “--hips--”

Nico moaned at the compliment. Seconds later, Nico’s underwear was pulled down, his growing erection released. He couldn’t help but take in a small gasp as the cooler air touched his member.

Percy began kissing the base of Nico’s cock. He then licked up the shaft, all the way to the tip, before taking it in his mouth. Nico moaned at the feeling or Percy’s tongue swirling around his cock. What Percy couldn’t fit, he pumped with his hands.

Percy started out slow, but went faster, earning more moans from Nico. Nico couldn’t stop his hand from finding itself in Percy’s dark locks. He began tugging on it and pulling it as Percy went faster. He knew he was close. Percy knew he was to, and he came of off Nico’s cock with a pop.

Percy came back up to Nico lips before capturing them in a heated kiss. Nico’s lips were now red and swollen, and in Percy’s opinion, beautiful. He had never seen any more...perfect. Nico’s large, brown eyes were filled with lust. He had red and purple hickeys covering his skin, his cock, red and throbbing.

Percy pulled down his boxers, discarding them on the floor, allowing them to join the rest of the boys clothes. Percy’s erection was standing tall against his stomach. His member was already leaking with pre-cum.

“N-nico,” Percy panted in between kisses. “D-Do you h-have any l-lube?” Percy asked, not wanting to go without prep or lube. Nico simply nodded, still in the kiss, while removing one of his hands from Percy’s hair and reaching around a bedside drawer. Percy separated the kiss to take the lube from Nico. 

Percy placed the lube to the side for the moment. “Turn around for me baby?” Percy asked, Nico nodded and did as he was told. Percy grabbed Nico’s hips, pulling them up, and Nico was holding onto a pillow, panting from the anticipation. 

Percy bit at one of Nico’s cheeks, making sure to leave a mark, Nico moaned at the new sensation. Percy began to lube up his fingers now, inserting one at a time, making sure to go slowly at first, then began pumping it faster, then adding a second finger, going through the same steps.

Percy began to scissor his fingers, hitting Nico’s prostate over and over with each motion, causing the younger boy to moan. Percy loved the sight of Nico moaning and trembling at his touch. Percy, if even possible, grew harder at the sight.

He almost wanted to stop what he was doing and begin to pound into the son of Hades as hard as possible, but he continued pumping his fingers, enjoying the perfect, beautiful view. 

Luckily, Nico was having the same idea. Percy wasn’t meaning to tease, but that’s all Nico saw this as. He saw it as relentless teasing. “Percy, p-please,”

“Please, what?” Percy teased. Taking another nip at the same cheek he left the other on.

Nico was struggling with words again. He knew what he wanted, but didn’t know how to say it. Nico bit down in the pillow as Percy hit his prostate again. “Y-You, p-please, I need--” Nico let out another loud moan as Percy hit his prostate again with his long fingers. “--Y-You,”

“Need me how?” Percy teased again, hitting Nico’s prostate faster now, while lathering his hard member in lube with his other hand.

Nico, unsuccessfully, bit back moans as his prostate was hit. “I--I--” Nico just didn’t know how to make words anymore, “I-I-In m-me,”

Percy planned to tease further, but after hearing those words escape Nico’s mouth, he couldn’t hold back. His mind was half dazed with beer, but he knew he wanted this, and had wanted it for a long time. 

Nico trembled with anticipation, Percy slowly entered Nico until he was balls deep. He stayed for a moment, letting Nico adjust, which Nico was very thankful for. Nico hadn’t anticipated the size of Percy’s cock and was afraid it wouldn’t fit, but it did, and it honestly felt amazing.

Percy couldn’t help but take in the beautiful sight in front of him. Nico’s arse was in the hair, Percy’s hands gripping his hips. Nico had his face resting on a pillow, biting it as Percy slid in deeper. 

Soon, Percy began to thrust, causing Nico to let out a small moan. As Percy began to thrust faster, tears spilled from Nico’s eyes, but he didn’t want him stop, he wanted him to go faster, and eventually it started to feel good. Percy’s cock stretching Nico in ways he hadn’t been stretched in a long time.

“P-P-Percy,” Nico kept moaning out. “Mmngph,” the last moan muffled by him biting the pillow as Percy had re-angled himself, giving him easy access to Nico’s prostate.

“Y-You’re so beautiful, absolutely beautiful,” Percy panted next to Nico’s ear before biting down on his shoulder, thrusting faster into Nico’s elevated arse. “Absolutely Beautiful,”

Nico was about to speak up, but Percy began to go faster, causing Nico to moan out again and bite the pillow. Percy sat up straight, still thrusting, and pulled Nico’s head back by his hair, making Nico’s moans more audible. 

“I love the sounds you make,” Nico blushed at the comment. “Don’t try and hide them,” Percy tugged on Nico’s head a bit harder, but careful not to actually hurt him.

Nico was astonished how Percy could be so rough and gentle at the same time. Nico wasn’t used to someone wanting to hear him, enjoying the way he moaned, or calling him beautiful, and it made him blush.

Nico began to get a familiar feeling in his stomach, one indicating he had moments before he came. He weirdly didn’t want to though, because he always got extremely tired after sex, and he didn’t want this to end yet. Yet, at the same time, he was beyond ready to have an earth-shattering orgasm.

“P-Percy, I-I’m not g-going to be able to h-hold out m-much l-longer,” Once Nico had said that, Percy had finished, sending his hot, white cum into Nico, sending the younger boy over the edge.

The two boys collapsed onto the bed. Percy rolled over, and looked over at the boy next to him/ His eyes were half-lidded, but staring back at him. His lips were still swollen and red, his neck covered in hickeys.

Percy looked at the sleepy demigod in front of his and kissed his forehead. “Hey,” He smiled at the other demigod. “We should get cleaner sheets okay?” 

Nico gave a small grunt but sat up, despite wanting to. Nico was very worried. He had barely ever shown anyone that type of vulnerability. He had surrendered everything. He let all his guards down, and currently was too tired to bring the walls back up. Either way he sat up, not wanting to unwrap the blanket from his midsection, not wanting to show any more vulnerability. 

Percy smiled at the other boy, his eyes still half-lidded, and he lazily sat up, it was true that he had grown a few inches since he was 14, but it was from 5’4 to like 5’7. Percy got out of bed, before picking up the shorter boy. It was beyond easy, which was bad, he really needed to eat more.

Nico didn’t know how he felt about being picked up, but once again, he was too tired to care at this exact moment. Percy placed him carefully placed him on the bunk next to the one they were just on, then Percy stood up, Nico gawked at the beautiful son of the sea god in front of him as the taller boy threw the dirtied sheets in a corner.

The taller boy walked back over to Nico. He climbed in bed next to Nico, and wrapped an arm over the younger demigod. Nico couldn’t have thought of a better way to end the night. Percy also couldn’t think of a better way. 

“Goodnight, Percy...:” Nico said tiredly, not thinking of anything else.

“Goodnight, Neeks,” Percy said, kissing the top of Nico’s dark locks. He pushed some of the stray hairs on his face behind his ear before looking down at the sleeping beauty in front of him, then falling asleep next to the son of Hades.


	2. Trying To Forget

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They just need to get it out of there minds.

“Hey! Nico! Open up!!’ Nico woke up to a loud voice outside of the door. He was slightly hung-over, but it wasn’t bad. The pounding and loud yelling from outside the door, however, wasn’t helping. 

After a second of realization, he realized the voice outside the door. Then after a few more seconds, he realized he was naked. Lastly, after another few seconds, he realized the demigod next to him was Percy, and he was also naked. 

He didn’t do this, he couldn’t have cheated on Will. He wasn’t a cheater, he loved Will. How could he do this? Will was nothing but perfect to him, and he cheated on him. He had to focus through the panic. “One second, Will, I’ll be right out,” 

Nico bounced out of bed, frantically searching for his underwear, then once they were found, he slid them on, then he gathered all of Percy’s clothes and threw them in his closet. He felt dirty. He felt like a whore. A filthy, cheating, whore. He felt that way even more as he felt pain in every step he took, he literally couldn’t walk straight. 

“Percy,” He said, shaking his body awake. Percy slowly opened his eyes, looked at the almost naked Nico and looked as if he was about to freak out. Nico covered his mouth before pointing to the door, mouthing the word ‘Will’ and pointing to the closet.

“Nico I--” Percy began, but Nico put his index finger up to silence him.

“I know we need to talk about this, but just get in the closet for a second, please?” Nico begged.

Percy saw the pleading look in his eye, and agreed. Nico went to grab the door, but Percy grabbed his arm. “Neeks, you have--” He was having a problem wording the sentence. “--something on your neck,” He said finally and walked in the closet, closing it behind him.

In all honesty, Percy felt horrible for three things.

One of the things was how he cheated on Annabeth. Annabeth was nothing but supportive of him in everything he did, and how did he repay her? The second thing was how he helped Nico cheat on Will. Percy knew Nico was happy with Will, yet they slept together.

While those things were bad, and made Percy feel horrible, what made him feel the worst, was how much he had enjoyed it, how much he loved marking Nico’s pale skin, how he loved the feeling of him, the scent of him, the tired him afterwards. He had only known Nico for this tough short guy with an even shorter temper, last night, he was a Nico Percy had never seen before, and he loved it. Though, he hated how he loved it.

Nico felt his neck, remembering the hickeys and ran to grab a shirt, he knew it wouldn’t cover the highest hickeys, but he would just position his hair in a certain way to hide that. He ran over to the door, took a deep breath before opening the door, becoming face to face with his son of Apollo boyfriend. 

“Hey, Nico!” He smiled. Nico usually loved that smile. Now, it just hurt him. How could he have cheated on that smile, on that head of curly blonde hair, on that tan skin, that freckled skin, on that perfect boy in front of him.

“Um Hey, Will,” He weakly smiled. Will frowned. 

“Hey, are you okay? You seem down,”

Nico sighed. He was about to lie to his boyfriend, after cheating on him. “Uh Yeah, just feeling a bit sick today, I just feel congested,”

Will gave a sympathetic smile. “I can stay with you today if you want, we could play a round of Mythomagic! I could even bring you some soup--”

“No, I know you have things in the infirmary to do,” Nico began. “Plus, I don’t want to take up your whole day, and then get you sick,”

“Awe, do you really think a common cold can get a child of Apollo sick? Also, I don’t even think you’re that sick, usually I can tell when people are ill, you seem fine…”

Nico tried not to panic. “Oh, maybe I’m just tired--”

“Did you stay up all night reading again?” Will accused. “I’ve told you how bad it is for you,”

Nico smiled weakly. “I know, I guess I just forgot,” He shrugged.

“Fine, get some rest, but i’ll be back later, and make sure to at least be up by lunch, and eat some food, okay?”

Nico laughed weakly. “You are such a doctor, okay I will,”

“Okay,” Will kissed Nico quickly on the lips, it made Nico feel horrible. Filthy. “Love you,”

“Love you, too,” He said as Will walked off. Nico’s walls were back up and he wiped the tears in his eyes before opening the closet door. What he found was a Percy, crouching on the floor, his head leaned back, regret all over his face.

“Hey, Nico, please know, I’m so sorry, it was my fault, I knew what I was doing, granted I wasn’t really thinking, but I knew what I was doing, I knew when I was kissing you...and other things, and I’m so sorry,” Percy rambled while standing up, then walking closer to Nico, Nico just looked over at the bed where the activities from the night before happened. “Nico, I want you to know, I am so sorry, you’re even younger than me, I should have known better, I’m sorry--”

“Stop apologizing,” Nico snapped. “I knew exactly what I was doing the entire time! I was fully aware, and I am still fully aware of how I asked for it...and worst of all...wanted it...so please, please just, stop saying ‘sorry’ because I’m sorry,”

“Neeks, listen--”

“No, there isn’t any use in apologizing, we both were involved. What we need to do now is figure out is how to go about this,” Nico started.

Percy noticed how the old, short-tempered Nico was back, and he felt horrible for wanting vulnerable, lust-filled Nico back. “We could promise to never do this again, and we could tell or not tell, there aren’t many options…” Percy said, thinking out loud, not meaning for it to sound so...douchey..

“I know there aren’t many options. Do you want to tell Annabeth? Because if that’s what you want to do, I need you to tell me how, because I don’t know how I’m going to look Will in the eye and…” Nico’s voice wavered. He decided not to finish the sentence, slimming the risk of a sob escaping.

Percy noticed this and wanted to hug Nico, or even place a hand on his shoulder, but he knew Nico wouldn’t want that at this moment, and that sometimes the best thing to do in some situations was to simply talk.

“I’d love to tell you,” Percy began. “But, I’m not sure how to,”

Nico turned to look at Percy for a second before turning back to face the bunks. “Se, do we just not tell them? Do we pretend that this...this never happened?” Nico knew it sounded rude, but he wasn’t caring about that right now.

“I-I, I guess so,” Percy said quietly, “We can just, ignore it, let things go back to normal,”

Nico agreed with the statement, but knew they would never go back to normal, they could never sit on the cabin floor and drink again without something being different, tense even. Yet, this was the best option for Nico. He looked up at Percy’s green eyes, then looked back down.

His eyes were filled with a strange emotion. He looked sad, but it was more than just sadness. It looked like longing. Nico would be lying if he said he wasn’t longing to walk over to Percy, kiss his lips, hug him, go back to bed and cuddle with him as they talked out this delima, but he also loved Will, and couldn’t do that to him.

He would just have to push any Percy thoughts out of his head. “Goodbye, Percy,” He said, Percy, who had gotten dressed in the closet, gave a weak smile before placing a hand on Nico’s shoulder. 

“Goodbye, Nico,”

The taller boy looked out the window before walking out of the door. Nico walked over to the window to see a blonde daughter of Athena skip over to him, and land a light, teasing, punch on his shoulder before leaning her head against him. Nico took a deep breath, holding back tears. He would have to cut Percy Jackson out of his life.

Percy walked out of cabin 13 and a frown appeared on his face. He knew what he was going to have to do. He was going to have to avoid Nico at all costs. It killed him to think of, but he loved Annabeth. He. Loved. Annabeth. His Wisegirl, His Ride or Die, his best friend. He loved her.

He walked down to the Dining Pavilion. No one sat with their siblings anymore. Everyone complained to Chiron about it, considering some people, like the Hermes cabin, had to many, and some, like the tables of the big three, had none. Annabeth chose to eat an egg omelet with orange juice, while Percy, of course, chose blue waffles.

He felt horrible, sitting next to her, talking about what they wanted to do today. It made Percy cringe. He had just cheated on this amazing girl,and he was acting like nothing had happened...he just felt horrible.

Nico, he was hungry, for the first time ever, but he told Will he was tired, so he was going to stay in his cabin until lunch.

He found himself pacing. How could he do this. Will was nothing but amazing to him, absolutely amazing. He listened to Nico, he understood Nico, he just knew Nico. Yet, Nico slept with someone else. As he paced, he was constantly reminded of that, as it hurt to walk. Yet, if he sat down, it would also hurt, due to the bites on his bum. 

~La Time Skip~

It was now lunch, and after bracing himself, Nico walked out of his cabin to find Will. He was going to eat lunch with Will, and probably the rest of their friends. Jason, Piper, Lou, CeCe, Kayla, Leo, Annabeth...and Percy.

Not to Nico’s surprise, as soon as he walked out of the cabin, wearing a jacket that covered most his neck, Will linked hands with him. “Glad to see you seem better,”

Nico let out a pained chuckle. “Yeah...ready to go eat?”

“Of course,” Will smiled, then kissed the top of his head. It reminded Nico immediately of how Percy did it before they fell asleep the night before. “I missed you at breakfast, I decided to just eat in the infirmary,” 

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Nico smiled awkwardly. Will gave him a questioning look, but Nico ignored it.They walked down to The Pavilion, Nico grabbed some curly fries and sat down. Will joined him, his plate filled with a cheeseburger, fries, and a small salad. 

At the table they usually ate at, which was the Zeus table, sat Jason and Piper, Leo, and Annabeth, Percy was still giving a portion of his meal to the gods.

Nico suddenly found a lot of interest in his fries as Percy walked over.

“Uhh, Hey guys,” Percy said awkwardly, sitting down, Nico still paid him no attention, looking only at his fries. 

Conversation went on, and Nico didn’t look up from his food, even when Will nudged him a bit. He simply shook his head and continued to observe his fries, not eating a single one, suddenly have losing his appetite.

As soon as lunch was done, Nico stood straight up, Will followed after him. “Hey,” He started. “Something’s wrong, and don’t just say you’re tired, I don’t believe that,”

Nico let out a sigh, “I don’t know,” He looked up at Will. “I’m just having an off day...I guess, um, yeah,” Nico smiled before walking back into his cabin. Will followed him inside the door, Nico guessed he didn’t mind, but as soon as he walked in, he saw the sheets in the corner and the closet door opened.

No one would take anything from these two details, but Nico did, and Nico felt dirty. He felt like a dirty little whore.

Percy was sitting alone in his cabin. Looking up at the ceiling, Nico hadn’t even looked up at lunch, he also hadn’t stayed that long after Jason left. He wanted to make things as normal as possible, but with Nico not even making eye contact, it was really hard to keep things normal.

Percy stood up from his bed and walked over to a bookshelf. He grabbed a book that he hadn’t read before, and sat back done on his bed. He couldn’t focus on the words and it wasn’t the dyslexia, it was the thought of Nico. 

He could have at least talked to him, or looked at him. Why did Percy care though? He loved Annabeth, Yeah, He loved Nico, but in a different way. 

He closed the book forcefully, he threw it on the ground, ran his hand through his hair, and leaned back against his bed. 

All he had to do for this to go back to normal was get Nico di Angelo and there night, out of his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, is this going crappy?


	3. Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico thinks, Percy figures shit out...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some percico will happen soon, also i'm in love with a Percy/Piper friendship and Piper and jason aren't together...

Nico had done his best to ignore the green-eyed demigod for the past week. It was honestly killing him. Either way, he just pushed Percy out of his mind and tried his hardest to only think of Will. It was late now and Will and Nico were sitting in a supply closet.

The two had barely even kissed since the...incident...and right now they were just sitting, not talking, Nico focusing on his shoes. Nico looked up for half a second and saw Will tentatively looking at some paperwork, filling it out.

Nico looked for awhile longer, looking at the face Will would make when he messed up. Nico gave a slight smile, followed instantly by a frown. How could he have done that to him?

Will dropped the stack of papers in his hand, causing Nico to jump. “What is wrong with you lately?” He snapped.

Nico shrugged. “I don’t know, honestly…” 

Will looked at his boyfriend. “You’re not cutting again, are you?” He asked in a low voice.

“NO!” Nico exclaimed quickly. “No, not at all, just, honestly, I’ve been feeling...sluggish…”

Will looked at Nico. “Give me your hand,” Will held out his hand, waiting for Nico to put his in it.

“If you’re going to check my wrists--” Nico began, holding his hand close to his chest.

“No, don’t be stupid, I just--give me your hand,”

Nico rolled his eyes, but placed his hand in Will’s any way. Will clasped his other hand around Nico’s pale one. A concentrated look became plastered onto his face. 

“That’s...weird,” The blonde mumbled, Nico pulled his hand away, could he sense the fact that he had an affair, it didn’t make sense, but they hadn’t had sex in the last week, but Nico had, could Will tell? No, Nico was being ridiculous.

“What’s weird?” Nico asked, hiding his panic.

“I don’t know, it’s weird, I was trying to see what was wrong, so maybe I could help you, but...I don’t know it’s weird,”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Nico smiled weakly before leaning his head against the wall. His skin was finally clear of all marks from that night. Yet, he still thought about if time to time. How did people casually cheat on people? This had been haunting Nico for forever. He wished he could ask Percy how he was handling all of it, but he couldn’t. That would lead to even more problems.

“Whatever it is, try and get better, okay?”

Nico smiled weakly. Will picked the papers back up and started to sign them. Nico started to pick at his nails, trying to think of anything else besides the thought that was vigorously bouncing around his mind.

Things hadn’t been much better for Percy. He wasn’t able to look at Annabeth without getting sad, and he didn’t know why. He felt bad, but that shouldn’t stop him from wanting to smile and laugh with Annabeth.

Annabeth was currently reading, his head on Percy’s chest and he was absentmindedly stroking her hair. After heaving a sigh Annabeth closed the book. She turned around and propped her head off her boyfriend's chest and looked into his eyes.

She leaned in an kissed Percy. He was shocked at first, then placed his hands on her hips. When the kiss broke Annabeth immediately kissed him again. Percy wanted to get into this. He really did, but with every move of Annabeth’s hips, and every break of the kiss...he saw Nico.

It made him feel horrible. Annabeth started tugging on the end of his shirt, and he thought of Nico’s pale, muscular stomach, and when she kissed his neck, he thought of the marks and hickeys left on his skin, the hickey’s he was only able to see.

“Annabeth,” He whispered. She smiled against his lips, not knowing he was telling her to get off instead of just saying her name. “Anna--Annabeth, I need to, STOP!”

She sat up abruptly. “Perce, what’s wrong?” She asked. Percy sat up and looked down. 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I just...I’m so sorry,”

“No, it’s okay, I-I, I have to go, but, I’ll see you at dinner?”

“Yeah, okay, see you,” 

Annabeth grabbed her book and hurried out the door, pulling her ponytail tight. As soon as his cabin door shut, Percy swung is feet over the bed and cradled his head in his hands. What was wrong with him?

He had always loved Annabeth’s sweet kisses, her body pressed against his, but now, he can’t handle it. He began to pace around his room. He was being a horrible person, an absolutely horrible person. He wanted to talk to someone about it, anyone, who would he talk to though?

He couldn't really tess Jason. Yeah, they were close, but he was also really close to Annabeth and the three of them were always working together on the memorials for the smaller, minor gods. 

He and Piper had grown pretty close, plus, being a child of Aphrodite, she might even understand a bit more. Understand the sudden change. It must have been related to Nico, but how?

~La Time Skip~

Percy arrive for dinner a bit late, everyone was already there, and he noticed Nico’s plate was completely untouched. Percy didn’t care though, why would he care? Percy took a seat next to Annabeth. 

He smiled at her weakly, and tried his best to ignore the conversation going on between Nico and Will. Despite his efforts, he heard basically every word. It was as if everything went silent, even though everyone was still talking, all he heard was there conversation.

“Neeks, you need to eat, you’re probably feeling weird because you haven’t eaten in awhile, please, for meeeee?” Will said, nudging his boyfriend.

“I assure you,” Nico said, pushing the plate away, “I’ve eaten plenty,”

“I’m just worried,” Will told Nico.

“Well, stop worrying, I’m fine,” Nico said, but his voice was not fine. Percy wouldn’t want to compare himself to Will, but Nico wasn’t fine. He had the same tone in his voice when he told everyone else he was fine on the Argo. Nico wasn’t ‘Fine,’

“So, Perce, still on to train tonight?” Jason asked, snapping Percy out of his trance.

“Oh, Uh,” Nico had just looked up, Percy had caught a glimpse of his round, dark brown eyes and almost lost train of thought. “No, I can’t, maybe tomorrow, but...yeah,” He smiled before putting more food in his mouth to avoid further conversation.

Dinner dragged on, Nico left first, then Annabeth, then Will, then Piper, and Percy followed after her, Jason said his goodbyes as Percy walked away before walking in a different direction.

“Pipes! Wait up!” Was Percy making a mistake? I mean, Piper and Annabeth were pretty close, but Piper and himself had also been getting very close, and he really needed someone to talk to.

“Oh, I thought you had something to do--”

“No, I uh,” Percy didn’t know how to say this, especially since a bunch of people were around. “Can we go to the beach, I really need to talk to you,” He was hoping the beach would calm him down, make it easier to say.

Piper smiled. “Of course, Percy,”

The two demigods walked down to the beach. Percy wanted to walk slower for his own personal gain, but he knew Piper probably had something to do rather than just this, so he decided to walk at a normal pace.

Piper kept making attempts at small talk, but Percy was too nervous to really reply with anything but the occasional ‘yeah,’ and ‘haha,’

How was he supposed to word it, ‘I cheated on Annabeth,’ or ‘I slept with someone else,’ or maybe ‘I slept with Nico,’...he knew the last one was out of the question, he wasn't going to rot Nico out like that. They had said how they would both pretend it didn’t happen, so, while Percy wanted to get part of it off his chest, he wasn’t going to mention the son of Hades.

When they arrived at the beach, Percy’s palms were sweaty. He noticed his chest was tighter and all hopes he had of having the beach calm him down, were gone. If anything, upon their arrival, he got even more nervous and fidgety.

“Perce, clearly something is bothering you, you can tell me,” Piper smiled.

“I know,” Percy said, he sat down, crossed legged on the sad, Piper soon joined him. “What I’m about to tell you, I need you to promise me, you won’t tell anyone. Not Jason, Not Will, Not Annabeth,” Percy said the last part with a wavering voice. Did he really want to tell Piper?

Piper was clearly shocked at the graveness of the situation and the pleading in Percy’s voice, nevertheless she nodded, “Okay, Jackson, just tell me,” She said, her voice sweet.

Percy took a deep breath. “I did something really bad, Pipes, like...really REALLY bad,”

Piper placed a hand on Percy’s shoulder. “It couldn’t be THAT bad--”

Percy shook his head. “No, it’s bad, I fucked up,” He looked up at the daughter of Aphrodite’s kaleidoscope eyes. “I-I-I, I slept with someone else,” Percy said, fighting back a sob as he said it, looking down to avoid Piper’s facial expression.

“Percy…”

“I know!” He said, quickly wiping a tear that had escaped away. “I messed up, I love her, I love Annabeth so much, yet, I-I-I did what I did, and now, I can’t be near her. I can’t kiss her, or laugh with her, or even smile at her without guilt swarming around my body, images of the night wracking around in my brain, I can’t look at--the person it happened with--without wanting to do it again, and Piper, I know that makes me sound like a horrible person, I know it, but gods, I can’t stop thinking about it everytime I see them…”

“Per--”

“And I don’t want to lose you as a friend, and I know you’re close with Annabeth, but shit Pipes, I messed up and I need someone, because...Pipes...I don’t know what to do…”

“Perce--”

“And I love her, gods, I love Annabeth so much, if someone ever hurt her, I swore to myself they wouldn’t see the end of their days, but I’ve hurt her. She doesn’t know it yet, but if roles were reversed, I’d be hurt, god, I love her so much, but I’ve always loved this other person, I thought it was in a older brother type of way, but gods, I feel horrible! Piper, how could I love them both?”

“P--”

“I just--”

“JACKSON!” Piper snapped, Percy gave her his full attention.

“Sorry,” He mumbled.

“You’ve thought you liked this other girl--”

Percy shook his head. “Boy,”

Piper produced a gasp. “You cheated on Annabeth with a guy?” She took a breath. “Sorry, besides the point, you said you’ve always thought you loved this guy,”

Percy nodded.

“And, you’ve always loved Annabeth,”

Percy nodded again. “Yeah, but it’s different--”

“For fuck sake Jackson, let me finish,”

“Sorry,” The male demigod mumbled.

“I will always love Jason. We’re not dating anymore, but I will never not love him. Is it in a different way? Of course, but I will always love him, I love him like I love Will,” Percy winced at the sound of his name. “Yet, I don’t love him like I love Dustin, anymore, maybe, that...could...be, what might have happened...to Annabeth for...you…” Piper said, the last part coming of quietly.

“No…” Percy thought for a second… “That can’t be us, it can’t be...I love her,”

“Jason and I thought that’d never be us either, now look, he’s happy, I’m happy, just not together…”

Percy found more tears falling down his face without permission, he didn’t wipe them away though, he looked over at Piper and tried a smile through his tear streaked face. “This sucks,”

“I know it does, I know,” Piper had leaned over and cradled Percy into a hug, he couldn’t help himself from crying into her shoulder. “It sucks a lot,” She repeated in a whisper.

“What am I supposed to do? Pipes, I can’t, how do I tell her? Piper, I don’t want to hurt her…”

“Be honest, Honesty will always be the best policy...that’s why it rhymes,” They both let out awkward laughs.

“Thank you,” Percy finally said.

“Anytime,” She smiled, kissing his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Positive or Negative feedback, please give me suggestions on how to make this better... :)))


	4. Bittersweet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a month and a week, roughly, since the night. Nico is getting sick and Percy is figuring feelings out

It’d been a month. An entire month and Nico still felt wrong. He still felt dirty, he still felt whore-ish, but now he felt, ill. He had been puking more, usually in the morning. Maybe it was because when he woke up next to Will, he got a wave of nausea, because around a month ago, this is where he had cheated on him.

Currently, Nico was running out of his cabin into the bathroom’s. He ran into the boys bathroom, thanked every god there was that no one was in there this morning, and hurled everything he ate in the past week up. He hadn’t really been eating either, he can’t honestly remember the last time he had a full meal, the guilt unsettling in his stomach. 

Not to mention the guilt of cheating on Will, but also, the guilt of the fact Percy and Annabeth were no longer dating, and barely talking. It was Nico’s fault, maybe Annabeth didn’t know that, since well, he was still breathing, but it was his fault.

Before walking back to his cabin, he swung by the Dining Pavilion and grabbed a glass of water, then drank it, before walking away. 

“I’m getting really worried about you,” Will said as Nico walked into the door. He heaved a sigh.

“Will, don’t be, I’m fine,” Nico said, resting a hand on his stomach, which despite him not eating, had seemed to be getting rounder, not fatter, rounder, like bloated. 

“Nico, you’ve barely eaten anything, and you’re puking up most your muscle mass, I can be worried, you’re not fine,”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I. Am. Fine. STOP worrying about me!”

“No need to snap Nico! I am only trying to look out for you--”

“I don’t need you to look after me though!” Nico snapped, turning around facing the door. “I’ll be at breakfast, see you there,”

“No, you’ll be sitting at the Zeus table and not eating, probably prod at your food a bit so it looks like you thought about eating it, but you won’t and then, you’ll just vomit the water you drank up tomorrow,”

“Fuck you!” Nico said, turning around. “Fuck you, you--” He stopped. He wasn’t meaning to snap at Will, he was just nervous, and angry at himself. “I am so so sorry,” Nico said before turning back around and walking out of the cabin.

When he got back to the Pavilion, there was only Piper, Percy, and Jason. Annabeth had been sitting with her table lately with her brothers and sisters.

“Hey Neeks,” Jason smiled, gesturing to a seat next to him. Nico took it, after sliding a portion of his pancake to the gods. 

“Hi,” He mumbled. He and Percy made eye-contact but quickly looked away.

The conversation continued on, and Will joined them shortly after. There relationship was falling apart. Nico knew it, Will knew it, but the only difference between the two, was Nico knew why, and WAS the reason.

Nico and Will hadn’t had sex since the night, Nico and Will hadn’t laughed the same since that night, and Nico and Will hadn’t even had the same conversations, Since. That. Night. That one fucking night…

Yet, neither one of them wanted to break it off. They did love each other, you can’t just stop loving someone after one night...can you?

Nico decided to actually take a bite of his food, proving Will wrong, but as soon as he did, it came back up. He quickly excused himself before running towards the bathroom. He heard footsteps behind him, but assumed it was just Will.

He ran back into the stall, not being able to see if anyone else was in the room, and threw up, he didn’t even know what he was throwing up. As he stood up, a pain hit his stomach, he clutched it, before turning around, light headed, and becoming face to face with Percy.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Nico was getting mad at people asking him that. “Are you okay?” He retorted, asking about his break up.

“It was doomed anyway,” Percy mumbled before looking back at Nico. “Are you okay, be honest,”

Nico was having problems breathing. Not only was he light headed, but this was the first time he and Percy had talked in a month. Nico refused to let himself break eye-contact. He had longed to look into these sea-green eyes for what felt like forever now.

“Fine,” Nico lied. There were no words to be spoken, they just looked at each other. They didn’t move, speak, the only noise to be heard was the commotion outside. Nico’s hand was still resting on his stomach, and he felt another pain, like he was hungry, but worse. It also felt like he had to puke, but nothing could come out. 

Percy must have noticed the quick flinch of discomfort. “Woah, what happened, what’s wrong, I’ll get W--”

“NO!” Nico exclaimed without thinking. “D-Don’t leave..Not yet, please,” Nico didn’t notice how he had used his one free hand to grab Percy’s sleeve. “Sorry,” He mumbled. “I just,”

“I’ll stay,” Percy said. He sat down on the bathroom tile, next to Nico, where Nico decided to join him.

There they sat, in complete silence. They didn’t look at each other, they didn’t talk, they didn’t even have any contact going on between them besides the air they were sharing. 

“It’s my fault, and I am very sorry, you can tell me all you want that it wasn’t, but I am to blame, and I’m very sorry for being the reason you and Annabeth...broke up...you’re stronger than I am…” Nico spoke up finally. Percy looked at him, though Nico knew, he didn’t look back at him, not wanting Percy to see the tears forming in my eyes.

“Nico, stop, please, don’t blame yourself, and you’re trying to make it work,”

“Perce, I need to tell him, it should be up to him if he wants to make it work, forgive me, and I’m not giving him that, and I don’t know what to do,” Nico covered his face with his hands, tears pulling in his eyes.

Percy wanted to wrap the younger demigod in a hug, but chose otherwise.

“Perce, I just don’t know what to do…”

Percy placed a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “I can’t tell you what to do, I could advise you, and while we ended in a breakup, it felt better to say it, don’t worry, I didn’t say names, but I’m not going to tell you what to do…”

Nico started thinking about every outcome that could’ve came out of this, and more tears ran down his face, sometimes making audible noises when he couldn’t hold them back anymore. He wanted to stop crying but he couldn’t. He felt Percy put his arms around him, but Nico stood up immediately. 

“Goodbye, Perce,” Nico wiped tears away. “Thank you, I have to go…” And like that he ran out of the bathroom, straight to Chiron, because a horrible thought just ran through his mind…

~~~  
Percy watched as Nico ran out of the bathroom. He didn’t know what to do. He could run and try an catch him, or, and this was the smart option, he could stay here and not do anything except for walk back to the Pavilion, tell everyone Nico needed some rest, and resume his normal day.

Usually Percy always went with the stupid, reckless option, but he found himself walking down the familiar path to the Pavilion.

“Is he okay?”

“What happened?”

“Where’d he go?”

Percy sat down, ignoring most of the questions. He simply smiled weakly. “Nico needed some rest, he said he felt a bit nauseous,”

Will nodded. “Yeah, it’s been worrying me. Usually I can tell when someones sick, and what’s wrong with them, I can’t this time, something’s wrong but it’s unfamiliar...he’s been feeling to tired to do anything recently…” Will said, looking at Nico’s full plate.

Percy let out a sigh, hoping anything Nico related would stop, but while the conversion about Nico died down, the thoughts in his head about the Ghost King did not.

Piper must have seen his troubled expression because a few moments later, Percy was getting dragged by the arm by the daughter of Aphrodite, and she mumbled excuses for both of them.

“Pipes!” Percy exclaimed as they walked over to Cabin Three. “What the Had--”

“YOU SLEPT WITH NICO!” She whisper-yelled.

“How did you find out,”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m honestly surprised it took me this long,” She said shortly. “You’ve been avoiding each other, Nico’s been upset, Will keeps coming to me saying how Nico won’t really even kiss him anymore...then you say how you slept with this person, and it was a guy, but Nico’s always been a little introverted, and I should have sensed it...being a daughter of Aphrodite and all...but gods...you love Nico,”

Hearing the words out loud didn’t make sense to Percy. He’s always loved Nico, just not romantically, well he thought...he didn’t want to admit it to himself and now hearing Piper say it, it was weird…

“But,” Percy began. “Nico is happy with Will, he wants to try and make things work, I’m not going to stop him from being happy…”

Piper sighed. “Di Angelo? Huh,” She pondered for a second… “I thought you guys’ feelings had disappeared for each other ages ago…”

“You knew that I liked him before!”

“Yeah, and he liked you,” She said shortly. “I can just tell these things, it was super annoying for awhile, Jason thought he was the only one who knew Nico was gay, I could tell the second I saw you two together he liked you...also when you liked him, that was obvious, if you two weren’t such oblivious idiots, you guys might have gotten together…”

“I am not ob--okay, whatever, it doesn’t matter, if he’s happy, I’m happy,”

“I call bull shit,” Piper deadpanned.

“Fine,” Percy sighed. “If he’s happy, I’m okay,”

“Closer,” She said.

Percy rolled his eyes. “FIne! If he’s happy I can give a small smile when he laughs, and then followed by a jolt of pain because I’m not the one making him laugh! When I see him smile, my heart stops, them it just crumbles into thousands of fucking pieces!! So if he’s happy I’m in bittersweet pain, better?”

“Perce…”

“Bittersweet Fucking pain when I think about that night. That one night is what I’ve been clinging onto, because it was amazing, and I want to wake up next to him, and not have to hide in a closet, I want to fall asleep next to him, planting a kiss on his forehead because he deserves to be taken care of and cuddled! Bittersweet, Pipes, it’s really fucking bittersweet,” And with those last words, he stormed off straight towards the beach so he’d be able to think more clearly.

Did Percy really feel that way? Did he honestly want to wake up next to Nico--yes, of course he did. Who wouldn’t he was perfect honestly. Still, when Nico was happy, it did make Percy happy, just, he did wish it was him making the Ghost King laugh, but as long as Nio was happy, so was Percy...right?

Percy kicked the sand beneath his feet in frustration, resulting in a cloud of white, only to settle back into the ground again, the only trace of his anger being a small dimple in the sand. 

Moments later, Piper appeared next to Percy. “You don’t get to just leave me like that, Jackson, I’m only trying to help you figure out your feelings,”

Percy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, while making me feel like crap! I know you’re trying to help, but telling me how much I love him, and that only makes me realize how I can’t have him! He loves Will, Will loves him, I love him too much to get in the middle of that, and I shouldn’t expect him to want to leave Will--”

“But,” Piper cut him off. “You wish he would,”

“In a sense...and I feel horrible for it. I shouldn’t want that...but I do...but I don’t, yet at the same time...I really do…”

Piper seemed to not know what to say, so Percy decided to explain himself better to get away from the awkward silence. “I know it’s bad, Pipes,” He sighed. “That’s why I’m not going to hint towards it, I’m not going to pressure him in anyway, I’m just going to...sit in silence and hope I only have to attend the wedding, not speak at it, or whatever…”

“Why do you assume they’ll get married?”

“Why wouldn’t you?” Percy retorted. “There perfect for eachother...balance eachother out…”

“Polar Opposites though,” Piper reasoned.

“Opposites attract,” Percy said, being the negative human being he is.

“Perce,” Piper smiled warmly. “It gets better you’ll find someone, maybe it’ll be Nico, maybe it won’t...there's no way to know, but when you find them, you’ll know…”

“What if,” the male demigod began, “What if I already have and I screwed it up. What if Annabeth was it, what if I do get over these feelings for Nico...and I realized Annabeth is my soulmate, what if that happens?”

Piper walked closer towards the taller demigod and hugged him. “Perce,” She mumbled into his chest, “That’s a lot of ‘what if’s’, it will be okay, one day,”

Percy sighed. He wiped a quick tear away before pulling away from the hug. “Thanks…” Percy looked out at the water. “It’ll be okay,” He whispered to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want everyone to know...I seriously love the Piper and Percy friendship...Also, don't worry the whole pregnancy thing is coming soon...lol


	5. Forgiveness and Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico finds things out, Percy mends old wounds...in a way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for all the feedback I'm getting it makes me so happy.

Nico was not okay. At all. He was worried, and scared. 

When he was sitting on the floor with Percy, he enjoyed it, until a random thought popped in his head that he wanted to say to break a silence and bring small talk.

He was going to mention ‘at least I can’t get pregnant, because morning sickness would suck’ he randomly thought of it because of the fact he kept puking.

Then he realized multiple things at once. One being he had only been getting sick in the mornings, very similarly to morning sickness, secondly, he can’t remember a condom ever being put on.

Now, Nico knew the importance of condoms, rather you have straight sex, or gay sex, because STD’s and other very serious sexually transmitted diseases’, but when you’re drunk, sometimes it is something you can forget, and especially without thinking you could get pregnant it’s less important, even more so when you know who they’ve slept with, and who’ve the person they slept with has slept with; Nico was pretty sure, Percy wouldn’t have am STD of any kind.

Now Nico was panicking. He should have made sure they used a condom, Will and Nico had been having sex for more than a year and they still used a condom. Every. Single. Time. Nico had condoms under his bed, in his bedside table next to the lube, he was sure he even had one in his jean pocket, yet he forgot to use one.

Nico shook his head. He was being ridiculous. He couldn’t be pregnant. He didn’t have the anatomy for it, still all signs were making sense, and he hated how they made sense. He didn't want to have a baby! He was supposed to adopt, or get a surrogate, or something! He wasn’t supposed to carry a baby in his body. 

Percy’s baby…

Nico shook his head. He was being crazy, there is no way he could be pregnant. Either way, Nico was running to Chiron. Was he going to be responsible and tell Chiron? No, are you crazy? He was running as fast as he could, for permission to shadow travel to a CVS, so no one would need to know about the fact he was going crazy and thought he was pregnant.

He finally made it to the big house and Chiron and Mr. D were simply playing that stupid game they always play (that I, the author, forgot the name of I mean...what?) Nico took a deep breath before a bunch of words avalandged out of his mouth. 

“ChironIneedtogoandleaveforabiti’llcomeback,butireallyneedtogo,it’lltakemaybeaday,butIhaveto!”

“RICO! Calm down, what the Hades?” Mr.D said unentertained.

“Nico,” Nico corrected, turning to Chiron ignoring the wine god. “And Chiron, I need to go out for like half an hour...it’s for personal reasons, just...please…”

“Nico, you and I both know how dangerous it is for a demigod to travel,”

“Yeah, but it’s safer to travel alone, I can shadow travel away, here and back, plus I’ve gone to freaking California and back before, and I’m still alive,”

Chiron pondered this for a quick moment. Nico didn’t realize the protective hand he placed over his stomach, as soon as he realized what he was doing, he removed his hand, but it felt awkward, so he placed it on again.

“Could you tell me what’s going on?” Chiron said, his hands resting on the armrests of the wheelchair.

Nico shook his head. “I could, but I really don’t want to, just let me go, I’ll be back so soon,”

Chiron still didn’t seem to want to let the young demigod go, so, in result, Nico snapped. “I could get your permission, or I can go without, I could care less, I AM TRYING to do the right thing here, getting permission, usually I would just leave, OR I would get the stolls to get it, but I can’t so for the love of OLYMPUS LET ME GO!”

The two other on the big house porch went silent. People from around, either sitting on the ground talking to friends, or playing volleyball, even a few at the lake turned around, all looked over at the very angered Nico, the dumbstruck leaders, and the skeleton he had raised. Nico left the skeleton there as he stormed off into the shadows, shadow traveling away to the nearest convenient store, not sure how long distance would affect the baby.

The store he traveled to wasn’t as close as he wanted it to be, but it was next to a McDonalds, though he decided not to eat any sense he would most likely just throw it back up. He walked into the store, he looked around for any sign of danger, like something that wanted to kill him and everything around him, once he got to the doors, which scared him because they just opened and he didn’t even have to touch anything, so his hands found themselves over his stomach, and the other on his sword.

After realizing it was just some mortal thing, he took the one hand of his sword and walked inside, looking for the pregnancy tests, which he found next to the menstrual products. This was comforting, because it made him remember that the reason it was next to the menstrual products, like pads and tampons, was because people who didn’t need these things, usually didn’t get pregnant, which made him just realize how crazy he as being. 

Either way, he grabbed the one that looked the most promising, sighed, and walked away, heading for the cashier.

They exchanged basic small talk, asking him how he was, and then telling him to have a good day. Nico smiled, but it was very fake and forced. He once again thought about getting McDonalds, but the thought of it coming back up, and having to tell anyone that he is,or atleast thought, he was pregnant, made him lose his appetite.

He didn’t want to shadow travel yet. He wanted things to cool down at camp, so he grabbed a drachma from his jean pocket, and went to find a secluded alleyway where he could hopefully find a puddle of some sort.

Luckily, something went right, and he did. He threw in the coin, asked the goddess for permission, and when it was granted, he said the words “Hazel Levesque,”

She as simply sitting down on the roof of her cabin with Frank. He wasn’t going to tell her his suspicions yet, but he wanted someone to talk to. She turned to face him, and then nudged Frank, who then looked over at the Son of Hades.

“Nico, what’s wrong?” She asked. Nico hated those words.

“Nothing, just hadn’t talked to you, or Frank, in awhile, just wanted to see how things were going in camp Jupiter, haven’t been there in awhile, been really busy at Camp Half-Blood,” Nico half-lied. He wasn’t even really lying, he was just not mentioning part of the predicament.

“Oh!” The Daughter of Pluto smiled. “Well, things have been pretty great around here, I was able to go and walk around in the mortal world the other day, did you know that when you take a picture on a--what’s it called--” She turned to Frank. Frank had a amused smile as he looked down at his girlfriend. 

“A Cell Phone,” He answered. He kissed the top of her head and she smiled before turning back to Nico.

“Yes, a Cell Phone, if you take a picture on it, it captures it instantly, and it doesn't have to print out, it’s just there, and it's honestly amazing, you could take as many as you want! I finally realize why people are always complaining about the no technology rule for demigods!”

“That’s amazing, Haze, did you also know that you can google any word and it can give you the definition,”

She looked at Nico, then at the son of Mars, shock all over her face, then looking back at the Ghost King. “Are you being honest?”

“Yes,” Nico laughed, one of his first genuine laughs in awhile. 

“Then why do people need dictionaries!?”

“Who knows,” Frank answered. “You can also do math on it, like a calculator,”

“Then why do we need to learn math?” She asked. Nico didn’t really know the answer to this one, so he just let Frank answer and looked at his sisters face. She looked so confused, he couldn’t help but laugh.

Frank explained this to his girlfriend and she thought it was stupid, but left that there. Moments later, the two Romans had to go, so they said their goodbyes and swiped away the screen in front of them. Nico sighed before standing up, putting the bag with the pregnancy test in his pocket, and melting into the shadows.

He had shadow traveled into his Cabin. Sadly, the bathrooms didn’t have enough shadows...Nico chose not to dwell on his unfortunate luck, and made his way out of the cabin. When he got to the bathrooms, he checked for anyone, and there was one person, so he waited until they left before taking the test.

The box said to wait five minutes for the final result, so Nico put all the packaging into his jacket pocket, and sat the text on the sink in the stall, since he used the biggest stall, which luckily had a sink, unlike the other smaller stalls.

These five minutes seemed like forever. They just wouldn’t come faster. He didn’t want to look until he was sure the five minutes was up, incase the first four minutes and fifty-nine seconds were the opposite of the final answer, which Nico knew was ridiculous, but him being pregnant was also pretty ridiculous, and he was convinced he could be.

Hd tried to think of anything. He thought about the disgusting conditions these bathrooms were in and how people should clean them more often. He then thought about what he learned when he was younger, how females would get pregnant, and boys were supposed to provide for there wives and children. Granted, that was years ago, and it was different now, because sexes and genders are equals, but that was how it used to be, and that’s what he’d learned, and while he didn’t believe parts, he tried to focus on the part on how women would carry the babies. 

He just couldn’t be pregnant, then again he was a demigod and you should never say never, but Nico had never seen any cases in which males, that weren't gods, got pregnant.

It had to have been five minutes now. Nico quit pacing and walked towards the sink. He took a deep breath, looked in the mirror and placed his hand on the test. He didn’t turn it around, not yet, he didn’t look at it even, he just looked at himself. He kept repeating to himself ‘You’re being scared of nothing, there's no way you can b pregnant,’ so, with one more shaky breath he turned the test over.

Tears. That’s what came next, and he let them fall.

~

Percy watched as the son of Hades blew up at the Big House, and then dissolved into the shadows. He didn’t know what to do, one second, Nico was crying on the floor, the second he was yelling at Percy, saying he had to go, and now he was yelling at Chiron and Mr.D, shadow traveling away.

Percy wanted to help him so much. He wanted to walk over to go and pick him strawberries from the fields, and comfort him, and tell him everything would be okay as they sat down on the floor and played Mythomagic, even though Percy had no clue how to play.

He mainly wanted to laugh with him. He just wanted to have the pale boy smile because of him. He hadn’t seen a genuine smile come from the demigod in forever and it was tearing Percy apart.

He sighed after tearing his eyes away from the spot the Ghost King had dissolved, and began to walk to the beach, where he found himself spending more and more time at.

When he got there, he was glad to see no one else there. He sat down in the shore, his lower half in the water, but being the son of Poseidon, he didn’t get wet. The waves crashed against the water, the smell of seawater calming him down. It worked until he heard someone sit behind him on the dryer part of the shore.

It was Annabeth, her princess curls blew in the wind, her camp tank top blowing in the wind, and her converse still on her feet. “I knew you’d be here,” She sighed, but it wasn’t an angered sigh like Percy was interrupting her, it was just a simple sigh you take when you’re relaxed.

“I can leave if you--”

“No,” Annabeth said quickly. She didn’t elaborate. She just looked out at the horizon. Percy missed her a lot, he wouldn’t lie, but there relationship was no longer working out. It was mainly his fault, but it was a long time coming honestly. 

Did he regret the past four years of his life with her? No way, they were amazing, but sadly, it did end. Percy decided not to talk, and just look out at the water as he was doing before. A wave of guilt washed over him as thoughts ran through his head. 

He had been more focused on Nico than his break up with Annabeth over the past month, and it wasn’t right. They had dated four years and he didn’t even stay up over it, he stayed up over Nico, but not Annabeth? He was being such a douche and felt horrible for it.

“I miss my best friend,” Annabeth said. Heer voice was wavering or weak, it wasn’t angry. It was just her voice. It was like she was saying a random fact like why people have eyebrows. “I’ve missed you…”

“I’ve missed you too,” Percy said, and it wasn’t a lie. He did miss her, he missed braiding her hair, being competitive, talking to her about random things...he missed her a lot. “A lot,” He sighed. 

“Yeah, I’ve missed our stupid arguments, and our stupid jokes, and--I’ve just missed you,”

Percy felt another wave of guilt. “I am so sorry,” He said, knowing the words didn’t do much for either of them considering the amount of times he said it when he confessed.

Annabeth went quiet. When Percy turned around to face her, her lips were pressed together in a thin line, her grey stormy eyes clouded. “I’m not going to say ‘It’s okay’ because it sucked, but I will say I’m getting better, and I really don’t want you out of my life. Mistakes are made, and...we both knew it would happen, I just wished it happened differently…”

Percy decided to scoot back closer to Annabeth, out of the water and on shore. “Yeah, I wish I’d done it differently to, by that I mean, not do it,”

Annabeth let out a small laugh. It sounded dry, but it was a laugh. “No,” She smiled. It was a warm smile, and her eyes were sad. “Maybe you wanted to do it after had broken up, but I know you wanted to do it,” She smiled again. It wasn’t a rude or bitter smile, it was an understanding smile. “You like him a lot, I can tell,” She said.

At first, Percy was confused, he thought maybe Piper had told her but he knew Piper wouldn’t have done that...would she? He started stuttering words but Annabeth just laughed. “I’ve seen the way you guys looked at each other for awhile. Then I saw how you ignored each other, then you told me, and it took me a few seconds to put it together, and by that I mean like thirty minutes, but I knew...and I was really mad at first, but, I’m glad you came clean,”

Percy didn’t know what to say.

Annabeth continued. “I mean, we won’t ever work romantically ever again, but, I need my best friend back, I don’t know anyone else who knows me the way you do, and I need you, and I think you need me Mr.Sad Face,” She laughed, nudging Percy with her elbow.

“I’m just surprised you didn’t kill him,” Percy murmured. “I mean, I was shocked when I was still alive after I told you,”

Annabeth laughed lightly. “Yeah, me too, honestly, but maybe it was for the best, not many relationships you start when you’re 15 go anywhere…”

“Yeah,” Percy agreed. 

“Yeah,” Annabeth repeated. 

They spent a few more moments talking before the harpies were going to come out. They walked back to the cabins, and broke away, making there way for the designated cabins. Percy sighed, hanging onto her voice. He had spent a month without his best friend, and he was glad to have a conversation with her again.

When he got into his cabin, the demigod plopped down on his bed, and was able to calmly fall asleep. He had a dreamless sleep, and it was great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :))) Guys, I have the way this book is going to go written down, and WHOOP WHOOP guys I'm excited.


	6. Guilt and a Warning from Tyson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico copes and Tyson visits!

Nico walked out of the bathroom with a tear stained face. He ran to his cabin and noticed it was night time, he didn’t realize how long he had been gone, geez. He discarded that thought and slammed Cabin 13’s door behind him as the harpies came out. 

He sunk down to the floor, tears flooded his eyes once more, and he didn’t even try to wipe them away, or control them. He let them fall. How could this happen? Honestly, how? He’d been to the doctor before, how could he not know he had the anatomy to carry a child?

As he thought about doctors, he instantly regretted it. Will. How was he going to react when Nico started showing more, and in no way could he play it off as Will’s because they hadn’t had any sex, which was honestly driving Will crazy, most likely. 

He could tell him now, or he could tell him later, either way he would have to tell him and it would be horrible. Then he would also have to tell Percy. He didn’t want to trap Percy into anything. He would make that very clear, but how in the world do you tell someone that?

Nico found more tears going down his face, he had his hands wrapped around his stomach. He then started realizing how malnourished the baby was. He hadn’t eaten a whole meal since the baby was conceived and anything he did it, the baby rejected. 

He tried thinking about food, and how he would just have to force it down, and the thought made a wave of nausea wash over the son of Hades. It was that feeling you get when you know you’re hungry, or you know you need to eat, but the thought of putting a bit of food in your mouth makes you feel sick.

Nico continued sitting on the floor, his head and back against the door, hands wrapped around his abdomen. He couldn’t believe himself. There was so many things wrong, he couldn’t pinpoint which one was truly making tears roll down his cheeks.

He took a shaky breath a thought of a list, not in order from suckiest, to least, but a list of everything that had gone wrong.

Cheated on Will. Amazing Will who was patient, kind, caring.  
Slept with someone who was dating someone, at the time.  
Got pregnant, despite being a male.  
Probably had a very unhealthy baby.  
He was having a baby at 17.  
He couldn’t find one of his mythomagic cards.  
He felt nauseous.  
There was a knock on the door followed by the voice of William Solace.

He quickly wiped the tears of his face, thought of a lie, allergies, and opened the door. Will was standing there, pale faced, most likely because of the fact a harpie could come out of nowhere and eat his face off. 

Will rushed in and Nico closed the door. He was thankful for the darkness of the Hades cabin. Without it, his red face and puffy cheeks would be a lot more prominent, and while the extent of the puffiness was hidden, it didn’t go unnoticed.

“Neeks?” Will asked, only after taking a few breaths, indicating he probably ran from his cabin to his brown-eyed boyfriends. “What’s wrong? And I know I bother you when I say that,” Will’s voice was calm and sweet, his southern drawl making his voice sounds like honey. “But, please tell me, I’m getting worried,”

Nico should have told the truth, instead, he settled with his lie. “Allergies I think,” Nico forced a smile before looking at his boyfriend. “What brings you here though? Not that I mind,”

Will gave a look as if he didn’t believe the son of Hades’ lie, but quickly masked over that expression with a look of teasing. “Well, you were sick, then you yelled at Chiron and Mr. D--”

“Everyone yells at Mr. D,” Nico states with a small laugh. 

“Okay, but no one yells at Chiron, and then you shadow traveled away for the entire day. I asked Reyna if she had seen you, and she said no, so I came here to know where the hell you went, and if you ate, and if you’re -- I know it annoys you -- if you’re okay,”

“Oh,” Nico said, buying time to come up with lies. “Yeah, I went to McDonalds, I guess camp food wasn’t settling in my stomach I guess, and I’m okay,” Nico lied. He was more like a greek tragedy. “Okay is a word to describe it I guess,” Nico sighed. “Going through a funk,” Nico found himself getting better and better at lying to Will, and he hated it.

Will smiled warmly at him before wrapping Nico in a bone-crushing hug. “I’ll be here for you, okay? When you get better, and while you’re going through it, I’ll be here, whenever you need me, and I’m really sorry for being so doctor-like all the time,” Will said with a small laugh at the end. 

Nico didn’t want Will to apologize. If Will only knew that while he was hugging Nico, he was also hugging Percy’s baby. Nico and Percy’s baby. What sucked the most, is Nico knew there was no possible way for it to be Will’s baby. It was just not possible, and it made Nico want to cry again, but Will was there, so he hid all emotions.

When the hug broke, Nico took a seat down onto his coffin-like bed, that he still wanted to get around to changing, but he couldn’t look at Annabeth, and she was the one he would trust to change it.

Will joined him shortly after. “What do you want to do?” The son of Apollo asked.

Nico smiled up at his boyfriend. It was a fake smile but it wasn’t forced. He didn’t know how to describe the feelings. “I honestly just want to sleep,” 

Will smiled before kissing his boyfriends on the cheek, and laying down next to the son of Hades. Nico had a feeling of guilt wash over him as Will wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist. His hand was extremely close to the bump.

It wasn’t that Nico was worried he would touch the bump and find out, it wasn’t very large of noticeable, but he felt guilt solely because it wasn’t his baby.

Nico tried to push the feeling away as he fell asleep to the soft breathing of the son of Apollo.  
~*~

Nico had a dream. An amazingly horrible dream. It was a dream where you're half-aware of your surroundings. Nico knew where he was, he was in his cabin, on his bed, and it felt like morning. Yet, what was different was the arms holding him weren’t Will’s. They were Percy’s. It was such a realistic dream, Nico could have sworn he smelt the ocean in the room.

As soon as he came to his senses, he literally leaped out of bed, landing on his ass. Will didn’t seem to wake up at that. Nico took a breath before walking towards the dining Pavilion, guilt rushing through his body.

~

Percy woke up in the morning feelings better than he ever had. Annabeth was still mad, but they were pretty much on the same page as being friends. He actually was able to have a conversation with Nico, and when he woke up and looked around his room, he found a usually empty bed occupied with Tyson.

Tyson’s eye was closed, and he was creating small, for a cyclops anyway, snores, wrapped in a blanket custom made to fit him. Percy wanted to jump over to his half-brother and give him a hug, but chose that letting him sleep would be a better decision.

Percy walked out of his cabin and went straight to the beach. No one was there, no tree nymphs or harpies, no demigods or other greek creatures. Only the calming sounds of the waves crashing and the smell of the sea was present.

Percy smiled at how amazing he was feeling before slowly submerging himself in the water. He smiled at a few of the underwater creatures who approached him when his entire body was immersed into the water.

A dolphin had swimmed up to him and told him how she was worried her son was going to get caught in a net if he wasn’t careful, Percy smiled and said he would look out for it. He honestly loved talking to the sea-life, they had such interesting lives, and engaging stories.

After a few minutes he heard the horn for breakfast and he swam out of the ocean, a smile still on his face. He basically skipped to the Pavilion to find his usual group of friends at the Zeus table, accompanied with Tyson, who was looking smiling and eating a few egg omelets. Annabeth didn’t seem to be rude towards Percy’s favorite cyclops, which made him even more happy.

He sat down next to Tyson and Jason with his plate, after sending a thanks to his father for letting Tyson have a day off. “Hey buddy,” Percy smiled at the Cyclops. Tyson smiled a toothy grin back before wrapping the green-eyed boy in a bear hug.

“BROTHER!” He smiled. When the hug broke, Tyson’s face dropped. “I need to talk to you...soon,” 

Percy nodded and turned back to the rest of his friends. One of the first things Percy noticed was Nico. He had bags under his eyes, and he didn’t even pick at him food, only looked at it with a sheet of disgust blanketing his face.

Percy wanted nothing more for the son of Hades to look up at him so he could shoot him a concerned look, but the Ambassador of Pluto simply stared at his food with loathing.

Percy’s smiled faded away a bit, but he couldn’t help the smile on his face as he sat down next to his little brother. Breakfast was normal, and Percy noticed how some of Nico’s food was gone now, and the boy had looked as if he was going to puke while eating it, and only a few minutes later, he did, sprinting to the bathroom. 

Percy got up to follow him, but Jason placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let me go this time, I have a feeling something’s up,”

Percy scoffed. “No shit, Sherlock,”

Jason rolled his eyes while he stood up. “I just want to ask him, plus someone needs to talk to you,” He gestured towards the Cyclops that was currently taking a chicken leg and a waffle, whacking them together. Percy simply nodded and looked over at Tyson with a small smile.

“Tys, whatcha doin’?” The son of Poseidon asked his little brother. 

Tyson smiled. “I’m making a chicken-waffle baby and I’m going to sell them for sand dollars,” 

Percy smiled back. “Okay...what did you need to talk to me about?”

Tyson’s smile dropped. “Oh yeah, bye bye chicken-waffle baby,” Tyson put down the food. “Cabin?”

Percy nodded and the two Poseidon children headed back to Cabin three. Percy wasn’t going to lie, he was very nervous of what might come out of his brother’s mouth. He had never seen Tyson so fidgety and nervous before. Of course, Tyson had been worried before, everyone in this world was, but it was a whole new level.

When they opened the door, Tyson began to pace, which looked a bit strange given his height. Tyson kept mumbling things Percy couldn’t understand. “Tys! I don’t understand you!! What’s up?” Percy asked trying to calm down the Cyclops.

“I don’t know,” Tyson said, his voice nervous. “I know something is wrong that has sent the big three into a fury, and it has something to do with you, dad isn’t mad at you, but he’s mad at the fact uncle’s are. All the gods are actually mad, and you are one of the topics of discussion. I don’t know what it is about, dad just calls it ‘the predicament’ when others are around, but it is a big problem,”

Percy tried to register everything Tyson had said, but he had spoken so fast it was hard to keep up. All he knew is that it sounded like he had something else to do for the gods, and that pissed him off. 

“Tyson! Calm down! What is going on,”

“Like I said, Brother,” Tyson began, slower this time. “I do not know, I just know it’s very bad, and the gods are very angered,”

Percy didn’t know what to say, so he sat down on his bed. “Again?” Percy didn’t think he could survive another prophecy.

“I’m sorry I must up and leave you with this information, but I can’t stay long or dad will be getting suspicious,” Tyson headed for the door. “I love you, Brother, I hope everything turns out okay for you,”

And with that, he was gone, leaving a worried, no longer happy Percy sitting in his cabin, alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Percico interactions coming soon :)


	7. Confessions and Confusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jase and Neeks have a heart to heart, Percy is confused and concerned.

Jason found Nico in the third stall of the bathroom, puking. Nico was embarrassed at the amount of people that had caught him puking in the last while. Granted, he was pregnant, but no one else knew that. It was a burden only he knew.

“Oh my god, Neeks, are you okay?” Jason asked, rushing to his side, his glasses slipping off his nose a bit, but he pushed them back up. Nico still despised the words ‘are you okay’ and he was pissed at hom much he had heard those words over the span of the month.

“I am perfectly okay,” Nico said before puking more of his breakfast into the toilet. He wiped his mouth on his hand before flushing the toilet and heading towards the sink to wash his hands. This entire puking thing was getting very annoying.

“Does Will know you’re puking? How long has this been going on? Maybe you need to eat more? You look thin, also maybe you need to drink more, have you been drinking water? Are you--”

“JASE!” Nico snapped, not meaning to be rude, but his life has been pretty sucky lately, and he wasn’t in the mood to care for the feelings of the other around him. “I am okay, Will knows, Perce knows, if I eat I puke, and yes, I’m drinking some water,”

“But is it enough water?” Jason asked, being the mother bear he is.

“I don’t know, I’m not a freaking doctor, but Will is, so if I was dehydrated, he would know, now drop the entire subject...please?” Nico asked, walking out of the bathroom, Jason following him. Despite an amazing sleep Nico had just had, he felt as if he was about to burst into tears, and he didn’t know why. 

Jason clearly noticed this, because he actually dropped the subject. “Okay, fine, want to go do something, maybe spar?”

Nico shook his head. “No, Sparring is out of the question,” The son of Hades said with no elaboration.

“Okay, we could go to the beach?” Jason recommended, Nico shook his head. 

“No, nothing with water, horses, fighting, or...earthquakes,” Nico said, lips pressed together in a thin line. 

“That’s...oddly specific...okay, what else is there to do?” Jason asked, walking side by side with the son of Hades.

Nico thought for a quick moment not sure what to say. He shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing to physical,” 

Jason let out a laugh. “Okay, we can go back to my cabin then? I need help organizing my desk, and you don’t seem to want to do anything to ‘physical’, and you don’t need to help, you could just keep me comp--”

“No, I’ll help, I need something to keep me busy,” Nico sighed making a beeline for Cabin 1.

When the two demigods arrived at the blonde’s cabin, Nico saw the mess on his ‘desk’ it was more like his floor, bed, and his desk, covered with blue prints, papers, and reminders. Nico let out a small laugh. “Jeez, never expected you to be such a slob, Jase,” Nico teased. The blonde rolled his eyes. 

“Usually it isn’t this bad, but do you know how many gods and goddesses there are? It’s been two years and I’m still working on there monuments and I am nowhere near done, and Annabeth is going to camp Jupiter for a while to find plans so we can start the construction on the Roman versions, and not to mention the fact that there are more Roman than Greek gods, and I can’t do anything until she gets here, and - it’s just been hectic lately, basically though,greek paper over here, roman there, blueprints for greek, there, roman, over there, and reminders...tape them to a wall,”

Nico did a small laugh, he really did want something complicated like this to keep his brain off the subject at hand, his pregnancy.

So, Nico got to work, he re-wrote some of the scribbled down reminders and neatly taped them on the wall, making sure they were clear and easy to read. When he was happy with the results, he added a small place to keep a pen, more papers, and pins to put them in the wall.

He then joined Jason with the organizing. It really was a mess, and as the son of Hades kept sorting out the documents, he found every stressful predicament being pushed farther and farther into the back of his mind.

He and Jason made small talk, and Jason honestly was stressed. Ever since he and Piper had split, he had just felt horrible and that it was his fault, and that he made her unhappy. He also felt he had bitten off more than he could chew with this project.

“Anyway, that’s how I’ve been,” Jason laughed, putting a pile of blueprints into their respective pile. “Anything new with you?”

Nico let out a small laugh. A lot was wrong with him. . . “Nope, nothing much,” Nico lied.

Jason gave him a look of ‘I don’t believe you’ “I find THAT hard to believe,”

Nico let out another laugh. “Well, then you think that, but my life has been pretty boring lately,”

The son of Jupiter stood up with a sigh. “Whatever, all this thinking, I need a drink, want one?”

“Depends what you mean by ‘drink’,” Nico began. “I don’t really like sprite,”

Jason laughed. “No, idiot, a beer, not soda,” The blonde reached into a fridge in the cabin, pulling out two bottles. Nico smiled before waving him off. “No thanks,”

Jason shrugged, putting the other drink back, before taking his seat next to the son of Hades. “It’s not like you too pass up a drink,” He pointed out.

Nico decided not to lie...completely...on his reasons for not accepting the drink. “I had a…experience? With it a while back, stayed away from the stuff since then,”

Jason took a sip. “Do tell,” 

The son of Hades shook his head with a laugh. “No thanks, some things are best to be kept to themselves,”

“You can tell me, who am I going to tell? Answer: No one, just tell me,” He begged, putting his hands together and sticking his bottom lip out.

“Let’s just say...I’ll remember it...for awhile,” Nico said, his voice wavering. He needed to tell someone, and who would be better to tell than Jason? He was trustworthy enough. Even if Nico had to come out to him those years ago by force, he had grown a special bond with the blonde son of Jupiter.

Nico noticed how Jason’s face dropped, any sign of playfulness dropping away. “Wait, Neeks, what happened?”

Nico noticed the damn tears collecting in his eyes once more. Why did this happen so much, his feelings creating these tears. It sucked, and he was usually really good at hiding them. “Jason, I messed up,” He said his voice cracking.

Jason put down the drink and got closer to the son of Hades. “Neeks, you can tell me,” Jason urged.

“I-I didn’t mean to, but it just happened, and now...I don’t want to trap him into anything, a mean...a baby, that’s a lot to put on someone, especially when you’re both males, and pregnancy just doesn’t happen, not to mention, now there not together, and my relationship is crumbling, and it’s all my fault, and I’M PREGNANT! How in the world could I, a male, me pregnant, and I won’t say who it is, but wanna know who it’s not,”

Jason didn’t reply. 

“It’s not Will!” Nico rambled. “Nope, I am a dirty, filthy, whore and cheated on my perfect boyfriend, Will is so good to me, Jase, so good, and I fucking did this, and the worse part of the entire thing,”

Nico took a break to gather his thoughts.

“The worst part is how much I liked it, how much I want to wake up next to him, the fact I’m started to daydream about this person wrapping their arms around me! I’m starting to wake up next to my amazing boyfriend, and the other guy pops into my mind, because I am a filthy whore,”

Nico was in tears now and he sat there, head in his hands before Jason wrapped him in a hug. There was no words spoken, there wasn’t even a need to speak them...sometimes silence was the better option. Jason was going to be there for his friend, but right now, he just needed a hug.

Jason didn’t know, or couldn’t even imagine what it was like to be going through what the son of Hades was going through, but he knew a hug was a good place to start. Nothing sucks more than to have something like that happen to them, and feel alone.

You can be surrounded by people, and still feel alone, and Jason wanted to make sure Nico didn’t feel that way. Nothing can suck more than feeling isolated in a crowd of people.

~

What the hell did the gods need with him now? Percy found himself pacing in his cabin. So many things felt wrong. He wanted to tell someone the warning, but the way Tyson had to leave, it clearly wasn’t something he should share. 

He sat down on his bed, head in his hands, breathing slowly, trying to think of anything that would steer him in the right direction. Racheal. She could help, she could at least give him a small hint. Rachel wasn’t here though, she was currently taking courses at Harvard.

The day went on and Percy decided after dinner, where he couldn’t find Nico or Jason. Percy found himself worrying greatly. Were they still talking about this morning. . . was Nico okay? Was he sick? Dying-- No, Will would be a lot more worried. 

After dinner the group went to the fire pit to do campfire things, but Nico had showed up and had tear stained cheeks, and puffy eyes, and he wore a gigantic fake smile.

Jason was next to him being extremely motherly before they broke ways, Nico with Will, Jason came and sat next to Percy.

“Is he okay? Why is he crying? Is he sick?” Percy asked quickly.

Jason looked at Percy for a moment, analyzing his face before shaking his head. “He’s Nico, so he told me he was fine, he’s not fine, I know that much,”

Percy looked towards Nico, Will was coddling him, asking if he was fine, from what Percy could tell anyway, before there was a kiss on the forehead, and hands being intertwined. Percy winced before sighing a reply. “Yeah,”

The camp fire raged on, people sang and danced, but Percy was only focusing in the son of Hades and Apollo holding hands.

Moments before Percy was about to get up and leave, the camp was visited by a certain love goddess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> percico coming soon, i swear :)


	8. A visit from a goddess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A goddess visits the camp, small mention of abortion, don't stress though, it's not a major one, just basically saying he wants to keep it,

(Before the campfire))) “Nico, I wish I knew what to do to help, but I don’t,” Jason said as Nico wiped his eyes from the tears that kept falling. Nico shook his head in reply.

“I shouldn’t be helped, so it’s fine, Jason, Will is so amazing, I cheated on him! Will is so amazing to me, and I cheated on him, and somehow got pregnant? Not exactly sure how that happened, and he’s going to know soon, and I need to tell him, and I need to tell the other father, but I don’t want him to be trapped, and I’m so fucking thin, and that means I’m showing already, and it just keeps piling up,” Nico rambled with a shaky voice. 

Jason didn’t reply. Nico continued.

“And when I tell Will, he most likely won’t want to take care of P- someone else’s baby,”

“It’s Jackson, isn’t it?” Jason said, cutting off Nico’s rambling.

“Uhh,”

“I didn’t notice anything until I know this now, he was all worried, and you guys don’t talk anymore, now knowing, it makes sense,”

Nico felt blood rush to his face as he looked down. “There just details,”

“Neeks, I thought you were over him,” Jason said, sitting across from Nico.

The son of Hades felt more tears gather in his eyes. “I thought I was too, but now all I want is him, I want so badly, and I can’t, and now I made him break up with Annabeth, and I still want him, despite everything that has happened, I want him,” Nico rambled, noticing how he said “i want him’ way more than necessary and sounded like a little baby.

Jason was silent for a moment, “Well,” He sighed. “What do you want to do?”

Nico thought for a moment, “I w-want to call R-Reyna, she - I remember she was telling me about a guy who got pregnant once, I think she would kn-know what to do,”

Jason smiled before getting a bowl of water and a golden drachma, “I’ll step out,” He said. “When you’re done, you should take a shower because we should go to the campfire, and your face is red and puffy,” Jason walked up to the son of Hades, wrapped him in a hug, and moved into a different room.

Nico sighed before placing the golden coin in the water, asking for Reyna. Moments later the screen was switched to the Praetor in her night clothes, sitting on her bed, looking over papers, Nico noticed the daughter of Athena was also in night clothes, sitting on the bed with the child of Bellona. They were laughing and drinking wine, looking over, what Nico could see, blueprints. 

Shit. He thought, he needed to talk to Reyna badly, but with Annabeth there, then again, she didn’t exactly know who Percy had slept with, Nico chose not to dwell on the thought.

“Gods, Nico? What’s wrong?”

Nico stuttered a lot before finally saying what he needed to say. “I slept with someone--” Annabeth cut him off. 

“I’ll go, call me when it’s over,” She whispered to Reyna, the brunette nodded and the grey-eyed demigod walked out of the room,

“I slept with someone, and now I’m pregnant, and I’m calling you to tell you this because I don’t know why it happened, and you know things,”

Reyna smiled at this explanation before frowning. “Nico, I don’t know what to tell you, the only case I’ve seen had the baby aborted and that was very early on,”

Nico sighed. “I know that, but do you know how it was possible for this to happen, ever more so, do you know what I should do, the other person doesn’t know, Will doesn't know, and I need help,”

The daughter of Bellona seemed to ponder for a moment before looking at the red eyed son of Hades with pity. “I don’t, you should tell Will though, and you should tell - who was it?”

Nico wiped his eyes. “I shouldn’t tell, but. . .I have a feeling you already know,”

Reyna nodded. “And so does Annabeth, and no, Percy didn’t tell her, she figured it out herself,”

Nico began to cry again, but quickly tried to stop, which resulted in him keeping a straight face, but tears still rolling down his face. “I should tell him,” Nico mumbled to himself, but Reyna heard and she agreed, “Yes,” 

Nico nodded before waving the screen away, not even saying goodbye, he then walked into the bathroom where he took a quick shower, but cried the entire time. When he got out, he dried his hair, but it was still damp, took a look at himself in the mirror and took time to really observe the bump growing on his stomach.

If he wasn’t extremely thin, he wouldn’t be able to see any difference after a month and a half, but since he was so small, he was able to see the small difference of the child growing inside him. He put on his clothes, before looking back in the mirror and examining his stomach.

Did babies this little have ears yet? Probably not. Yet, Nico didn’t care. He placed his hands on his stomach, his shirt lifted a bit and began to speak. “I know I keep talking about you like this is the worst thing to ever happen,” He sighed. “But it isn’t. I hate the circumstances,” That wasn’t a lie. “But - I love you, and I promise, I swear on the river of Styx, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe, no matter what, no matter who you are, what you grow up to be, I will love you with all my heart,”

Nico sighed at how stupid he was being, knowing the baby couldn’t hear him, but put his shirt down and walked out the door, a protective hand over his bump. He called out for Jason, who quickly joined him as they walked down to the campfire.

Nico took a quick glance at Percy before sitting down next to Will. His boyfriend quickly took Nico’s hand, but Nico was to nervous to do anything more than to hold it back, he was going to tell Will soon. 

The songs played until it was rudely interrupted by one of Nico’s least favorite goddesses showing up. Aphrodite. Every Aphrodite child cheered, except for Piper. Everyone else greeted the goddess, Nico didn’t even look at her. He despised everything she stood for.

“Hello, demigods!” She smiled. Every straight, pan, or bi boy or lesbian, bi, pan, girl was staring at the love goddess in awe, Nico being halla gay, couldn’t care less and simply saw a girl, that was pretty, but didn’t stick out to Nico really. “I have gathered here today to collect Percy Jackson and Nico di Angelo, for the gods to discuss there affair, along with the new little ray of sunshine forming in the little belly of the Hades son,”

Will looked at Nico, and Nico looked panicked. Percy also so Nico’s face, and the gears spinning in his head, so Percy stood up and did something he knew Nico was debating on doing.

“I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about,” Percy began. “I’ve never slept, or had an affair, with Nico,”

Nico was very grateful for Percy doing that, because Will seemed to ease next to him, his hand still on Nico’s.

Aphrodite made a noise of disapproval before waving her hands, a mist screen popping up over the fire. “So this. . .never happened?” Nico looked at the screen and already hated the view. It was the images of that night, that night it all happened. It was before everything happened though, when they were drinking in Cabin 13.

Nico began to panic, but had to contain most of it considering his blonde boyfriend still seemed skeptical.

“What is this?” Percy asked, also clearly panicking, afraid of the same thing Nico was afraid of, they were afraid there secret was going to be displayed on the screen above them. Gods didn’t really understand that sex was a personal thing, something you didn’t want everyone seeing.

Nico’s fears came true as the scene changed to the two boys kissing, there hips rubbing against each other.

“Stop,” Nico mumbled, so quiet no one could hear him over the gasps coming from the crowd.

The scene changed, they were on the bed, looking up at each other before Percy began to kiss his neck. Nico remembered the hickeys he had to cover.

“Stop!” He said louder, but everyone ignored his protests. Will’s hand had slipped away from his. The blonde son of Apollo edged away from Nico, hurt and disbelief all over his face.

The scene changed and it was them actually. . .doing IT, and the only noise to be heard was the two boys moaning each others names. Nico had tears all in his eyes. Yelling the words ‘stop’ but no one listened. Percy saw the distress in the son of Hades’ face and yelled at the top of his lungs. 

“STOP! HE SAID STOP DIDN’T HE? STOP IT!”

The screen didn’t disappear but simply fast forward to him in the bathroom, taking the test, holding up the positive test, tears rolling his face. Percy was shocked at this. After the scene finished, Aphrodite waved the screen away. “Condoms people,” she sighed happily. “They stop pregnancies,”

Nico was in tears again, Will had left the scene and was nowhere to be found, Percy was still shocked.

Aphrodite smiled before summoning a carriage. “Come on you too, we have a council meeting with the gods, you guys are kind of a big deal,” 

Nico stood up, horrified, a hand on his stomach, and walked into the carriage, Percy following after, sitting across from Nico. Aphrodite sent the carriage away and summoned herself to Olympus. She decided summoning the boys with her would be bad, since they clearly had conflict to work out.

After a few moments of silence. Nico spoke up, it was actually really quiet on the carriage, which made it extremely tense. “I was going to tell you, I swear, I just didn’t know how,”

Percy looked at the puffy-eyed son of Hades. He didn’t know what to say. Nico continued. “I really was, I just, I hadn’t grasped the situation myself, I only found out a little over a week ago,” Nico wiped his eyes. “I’m sorry,”

“I can’t believe it,” Percy mumbled. Nico let out a pained laugh.

“Me either, I don’t even know how it’s possible,”

Percy looked at the son of Hades and wanted nothing more than to hug him and wipe his tears away, but he knew better than that, so instead he sat awkwardly across from him, watching his every move.

“I want to keep it,” Nico deadpanned. “But, you don’t have to stay, I don’t want to trap you in anything you wouldn’t want, and I don’t expect you to want to stay,”

“Nico, don’t be silly, I want to stay, stay for you, and stay for the baby,” Percy said, speaking nothing but the truth. Nico couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his lips, because that was the best news he had heard in awhile.

Nico was about to say one more thing, but then they arrived at Olympus, everyone was staring at the two demigods, and Nico immediately bowed. 

~  
Percy was almost certain this was the news Tyson was talking about, which didn’t put the son of Poseidon at ease. The way Tyson had talked about it, he knew that the situation wasn’t good.

Percy didn’t care if this was the first time he had even heard of a baby, he loved it. He didn’t care for the circumstances, it was his baby, and he loved it, he hated how it wasn’t conceived knowingly, and he hated how it’s parents weren’t really together yet, but Percy was over the moon at the fact he was going to be a father.

He knew he shouldn’t be as happy as he was, but after seeing the small smile Nico made, it made his day, and he could just imagine how adorable this baby was going to be.

And then, he was worried again, because if the gods were involved, the baby was either a threat, or in danger, and if it was a threat, the gods may eliminate it.

Percy wasn’t going to let the gods hurt Nico or the baby, he vowed to himself, no way in Tartarus wash he going to let that happen.


	9. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nico and Percy go to Olympus and they talk about the future their baby holds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: MENTIONS OF ABORTION; MORE FOUL LANGUAGE THAN USUAL

Nico bowed his head at the sight of the 12 gods and goddesses. He was beyond worried at what everyone was going to say, and even more worried at whatever the fuck just happened back at camp. Once second, everyone was singing and dancing to the campfire, then he was basically having his sextape played infront of the entire camp, HOW did Aphrodite even know? How did she find out? Not to mention, now he was in Olympus, Percy knew, Will knew, and everything had spiraled out of control.

Nico refused to look up, not even a bit, he was terrified to see his father's face. Why was he even here? Why would they care if he was pregnant, demigods had children with demigods before, it’s not a strange or uncommon, maybe a male pregnancy, but that wasn’t exactly his fault.

Okay, maybe we should have used a condom, but like, we were drunk, and we knew we weren't going to get any STDs, and pregnancy shouldn’t of been a possibility. Yet, here was the son of Hades, his child growing inside of him, which was honestly beautiful when Nico thought of it, but that didn’t stop the oddness of the situation.

Nico wanted to look over and see what Percy was doing, or where he was. Nico knew the son of Poseidon had a problem when it came to showing respect to the gods, the younger boy couldn’t blame him, they had put him through Tartarus, literally, and back. While it happened to Nico as well, he still bowed, but Percy was a bit more reckless than that.

“Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo,” Boomed a voice that could only have been Zeus. Nico took in a deep breath before looking up. Everyone of the gods stared at him and Percy. Nico began to panic under there gaze, but masked it with a calm, blank face. As he looked around at the gods, he caught his father’s eyes, but they weren’t looking at him, they were looking at Percy, and the son of Poseidon, like the idiot he was, was death staring back.

“So, whatcha want this time?” Percy said, still staring at the god of the Underworld. Nico felt like back-handing him. Did he have a death wish?

“Son,” Poseidon cautioned to his child. “You might want to do just listen,”

Percy scoffed before getting in a very sassy position, Nico was scared out of his wits. He was thankful Percy decided to listen instead of present the gods with a snarky comeback. 

“As you both now know, Nico is pregnant,”

“Yeah, so does the ENTIRE CAMP NOW, THANKS TO YOU!” Percy snapped at Aphrodite, Nico stayed silent.

“Percy,” Poseidon warned again. The older demigod went silent again. 

“And Percy is the other father, and--”

“I am just confused why the Hades this is a big deal? Why are you guys involved?” Percy asked, the gods ignored him, but Nico could tell everyone was getting impatient with his continuous interruptions. 

“--and,” Zeus resumed. “The two are both children of the big three,”

“Great observation,” Percy mumbled. 

“Meaning the baby will be the grandchild of not one, but two, Big Three gods,”

Realization dawned on Percy, Nico was still confused, and since the son of Poseidon didn’t make a comment, or ask a question, Nico decided to do it himself. “That shouldn’t mean anything! We just won’t let them fly on a plane or whatever,” Nico reasoned, a bit confused why the gods had to be so involved and show there entire affair to the camp, so he was pissed. 

Hades pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly wanting not to answer his son, but have growing an attachment to him over the last few years, he couldn't ignore his concerns. “The child will possess powers of both you, and. . . the other one,” Hades said, rolling his eyes. “So it’s like, how you guys were a big threat, the baby would be a huge threat,”

Nico then saw how this was going, and he didn’t like it. Last time someone, Zeus, was afraid of a threat, Nico got locked in the Lotus Casino for 70 years. He also knew Maria was murdered, and he knew Zeus was a fan of killing anything that was a slight inconvenience to him. Nico snapped.

“No,” He said, disgust in his voice. “I know how you do things, and this isn’t a discussion that’s needed, I know what you’re going to say next, and NO!”

Ares sighed. “It’s for the best, the baby is a huge threat to everyone-”

“NO!” Percy protested. “They’re a huge threat to you! No one else!”

It was Apollo who spoke up this time. “I can barely see the future of this child, it’s strange, same reason why my son,” Apollo spat, looking directly at Nico. “Couldn’t understand what was wrong with you when he tried, it’s just a blank, but I know enough to know it will cause danger and--”

“So that is the ONLY sign you need to - to kill them?” Nico asked, outraged.

The gods went silent, Nico turned to Aphrodite, all his emotions getting out, he had been holding so much back for the past month and a half, and who better to take it out on then the people that can kill you in seconds? “AND WHO THE HADES DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? TELLING EVERYONE ABOUT THAT NIGHT, YOU HAVE NO RIGHT, ESPECIALLY WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS YOU’RE SHACKING UP WITH ARES OVER HERE! THAT MOMENT WAS PRIVATE! NOT TO BE BROADCASTED TO THE ENTIRE CAMP!” 

Nico turned around so he was now facing Apollo. “AND DON’T THROW WILL INTO THIS, I WAS GOING TO TELL HIM! YOU’RE THE ONLY GOD I KNOW OF THAT PRODUCES OFFSPRING IN ALL MALE RELATIONSHIPS, SO WAS IT YOU WHO MADE THIS POSSIBLE?”

Nico didn’t wait for an answer, he just turned to Zeus, which was probably a horrible idea, but he was on a rant and not the gods themselves could stop him. He also noticed tears were streaming down his face now, but he ignored them. 

“AND YOU!” Nico yelled at the god of the sky. “YOU KILLED MY MOTHER, AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THAT BUILDING, YOU MADE ME LITERALLY ZOOM 70 YEARS IN THE DAMN FUTURE, AND YOU WILL NOT TOUCH THIS CHILD,”

Nico took a shaky breath before looking at all of the gods. “ALL OF YOU! EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU, YOU FUCK UP! BUT NOTHING HAPPENS TO YOU! AND I SWEAR TO, WELL THE GODS, THAT IF YOU TOUCH MY BABY, YOU WILL FUCKING RUE THE FUCKING DAY!”

All the gods had seemed to be in shock at Nico’s outburst. Percy was also stunned. Nico bowed his head before walking out of the throne room. He didn’t know where he wa going, and didn’t have to decide, because he was summoned back, magically appearing in his spot again.

“Nico, we’re just trying to save you!” Hades exclaimed.

“SAVE ME?” Nico began, getting mad again. “IF YOU HURT THIS BABY, YOU’LL BE RUINING ME! MAYBE, JUST MAYBE I WAS SHOCKED AT FIRST, HATED THE FACT, BUT NOW, IF YOU EVEN TOUCH THEM, I WILL RAISE HELL!”

Hades took a deep breath. “Do you have any idea what this baby will do to you? It will grow, and need food, it’s already malnourished, it’s literally killing you Nico,”

“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK! LET IT KILL ME! LET IT TEAR ME APART FROM THE INSIDE OUT!” Nico didn’t know where all this was coming from, he honestly didn’t know he felt this way, but with the babies life at stake, he found himself rambling. “YOU WILL NOT HURT THEM!”

Nico had made a point not to look at Percy, but he couldn’t help but look at him when he started talking as well.

“HE’S RIGHT, YOU WON’T!” He shouted. “THIS ISN’T YOUR DECISION!” Percy looked Zeus right in the eye. “YOU HAVE PUT ME AND NICO THROUGH FUCKING HELL! THE LAST THING, YOU WILL BE DOING, IS HURTING THIS CHILD!” Nico looked awe-struckingly at the boy in front of him, his heart swelling up hearing the defensive tone in his voice.

“Well,” Apollo chimed in. “I say we let them try it out, let Nico see how painful this experience will be, male pregnancy, not fun, then, when I can get a better read on the babies future, or when Nico, not if, when Nico decided they no longer want to carry the child to term, we can exterminate,”

“I WOULD NEVER ASK FOR THAT! GET YOUR FUCKING FACTS STRAIGHT, AND, I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE NEAR FUTURE, IT’S NOT YOUR DECISION!”

“We just need to-”Artemis said, Nico cut her off.

“No, I’m leaving, teleport me back, whatever, my ass will be walking right back out,” Nico said before turning away, no one made any efforts to bring him back.

Percy looked at the gods before bowing his head, and following after Nico. 

Zeus boomed. “YOU HAVE UNTIL APOLLO CAN SEE THE FUTURE, THEN THE DECISION WILL BE MADE!”

The two demigods blocked out the yelling. Nico continued walking, until he got to the end of Olympus. Percy had to jog to catch up to the son of Hades, and when he did, he placed a hand on his shoulder, the younger boy turning around.

Tears were falling down his face and it was stained red. Percy didn’t care this time, he wrapped Nico in a hug. Nico pushed away at first, before accepting the hug, crying into Percy’s shoulder. “Idontknowwhattodo,Ishouldhavetoldyou,andeveryonesooner,butIdidn’tandnoweveryoneknows,andIdidn’twantyoufindingoutthisway,Iwantedtotellyoucalmlyandslowly,andIwantedtomakesureyouknewwhereIwas,andIwantedtoknowwhereyouwere,but--”

“Shh, Percy cooed, “It’s okay. I know, I know, you had reasons to wait, I know, it’s okay,” Percy was rubbing Nico’s back soothingly, and Nico just cried. He had been holding so much of it in, which was hard to believe, but it was a lot to take.

Percy looked down at the younger boy and noticed tears forming in his eyes as well. He was going to have a baby, with Nico, a child, and then, that baby was in danger, and that scared Percy out of his wits. 

Nico looked up at Percy and struggled a weak smile before stepping away. “I - Uh - Thanks,” Nico said awkwardly. Percy wiped the tears out of his eyes. 

“Ha don’t mention it,” Percy said, wiping the other eye. He also managed a small smile. 

“I don’t know how to get back,” Nico said looking around. “Didn’t think very far,” Percy noticed a blush on the paler boys cheeks.

“I can call someone I think,” Percy said with a smirk, he whistled and moments later, Blackjack appeared. Percy got on, holding out a hand to help Nico. Nico climbed on, wrapping his arms around Percy’s waist. 

Nico dug his head into Percy’s back. He wasn’t usually someone who liked closeness, but he knew when they landed, he and Percy wouldn’t talk as much, maybe only occasionally for updates on the baby, but Nico didn’t want to think about that right now, now he was just nuzzling his head into the son of Poseidon.

When they arrived at camp, Percy helped Nico off the horse, saying goodbye to him at his cabin. Nico waved goodbye before letting out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. He lifted his shirt a bit and looked down at his small bump. 

Will.

He needed to go talk to Will, right now, clear things up, say anything. He dropped his shirt before walking out of his cabin, all the way down to the Apollo cabin. He was stopped before he even got to the door.

“Don’t go in there, di Angelo,” Someone warned. It was Kayla, her hair was dyed green and she had a hand on her hip. “Don’t you dare,” She repeated.

“I just want to see him,” the son of Hades said, concern in his voice. “Please, I need to explain, I need to do something, I feel horrible!”

“You should! You broke his heart! He loved you!” She yelled.

“I love him, Kay, I loved him a lot, I fucked up, I know that, please just let me see him!” Nico begged. Kayla didn’t move, but the door opened up behind her, revealing Will. His eyes were red, but that was it. He wore a blank expression.

“What do you need, Nico?” He asked. Nico wanted to run up to him, apologize, he would’ve even gotten on his hands and knees.

“I want to explain--”

“Explain? I saw everything I needed to see, you slept with Percy, and then, you got pregnant, and the fact you knew and you lied and I thought it was my fault, Nico! I thought it was my fault you no longer kissed me, or showed any affection towards me, but no! It was because you were pregnant!”

Nico wouldn’t let himself cry. “I just - please, I - I didn’t know how to tell you,”

“Do you regret it? Sleeping with him,”

Nico went silent. He didn’t regret it at all, he wouldn’t have taken it back, would he have done things differently, yes, but he didn’t regret it. Will noticed the son of Hades’ hesitation.

“That’s it,” Will said pausing. “We’re through,” and with that he closed the door. Nico stoof awestruck for a few moments before Kayla spoke again.

“And find someone else to take care of you and your baby, no one from cabin 7’s doing it,” With that, the girl walked away into the cabin, leaving a shocked Nico, on the verge of tears. Two years of relationship, gone. When Nico met Will he was convinced he was going to marry him, but life doesn’t always go as planned.

Nico turned away and walked to his cabin. Fighting back the tears.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ~Stopped doing chapter names, we're going to do simple 'Chapter #'s'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Such a little talk of abortion, it was just mentioned like once, and it was refrencing to what the gods want, but I still feel this is a necessary warning.

Nico walked into his cabin and the first thing he did was punch the wall. He and Will were over. It was his fault, and he knew it was coming, but hearing the words, made it all so real. For the last two years, Will was the constant. No matter what changed in Nico’s life, he had Will, and Nico fucked the up.

He found himself crying a lot less than expected. He just had other things to be thinking about. He had to find someone to take care of his baby, and who would do that now? Not anyone in the Apollo cabin, and mortal hospitals wouldn’t know what was going on. . . unless, there had to be a demigod working at a hospital somewhere! They would know what to do!

Nico walked out of his cabin, calmly before going to the Big House. Chiron was sitting there, in horse form, clearly awaiting the son of Hades’ arrival. “You raised some Hades in Olympus,” He said, his face masked in disappointment. 

“Good,” Nico said, not wanting to sound rude, but things have been pretty hectic for him lately. “I need to know of any other demigods, ones that work and lead normal lives, like. . .that work at the hospital,”

“Why don’t you just go to the infirmary?” Chiron asked. Nico knew that the centaur knew the answer to that question, but simply wanted to make Nico feel guilty.

“You know why, if you don’t want to tell me, I’ll find help in other means, but I’m not doing this right now,” Nico said, turning around, but the centaur stopped him.

“New York Presbyterian Hospital Obstetrics and Gynecology, it’s in Washington Ave. Look for Dr. Katelyn Holt. Tell her the situations, only her, no one else,”

“Thank you, was it that hard?” Nico said, before turning back around to walk away.

Nico was stopped again. “Nico?” Chiron croaked. Nico turned around to face him.

“Yes?” He huffed.

“I wish you luck,” The centaur said sadly before walking away into a room. Nico sighed before walking down. Was it really going to be that bad? If Chiron was worried about it, maybe Nico should be more worried as well. 

The next thing he had to deal with was if he should tell Percy. What if Percy doesn’t want to come along, but comes anyway, the last thing Nico wanted to do was to trap Percy. If Nico had to do this by himself, he would. 

He sighed, which he had been doing a lot of lately, and made a beeline for, not cabin three, but cabin one, he was going to tell the son of Poseidon, but he also wanted to give Jason some indication of why he wouldn’t be at camp.

He knocked on the door and Jason answered before he was finished.

“NICO!” He said, relief present on his voice. “How'd everything go, what she did was horrible, are you okay?”

“They might hurt the baby, it was, and okay as can be, I have to go talk to. . .someone, but I may be gone for the next bit, I’ll be at a hospital, somewhere on Washington Ave. If you want to see me, I’ll be there, I guess, um, thank you for letting me talk to you and everything, goodbye,” Nico said before walking away, not wanting to hear a response. He wanted to make sure the baby was okay. 

He was getting more and moe concerned as everyone gave him warnings, especially Chiron’s warning. It was getting to him, and he wanted to see Dr. Holt, and wanted to make sure everything was okay.

When he arrived at Percy’s cabin, he knocked hastily, getting more and more anxious. Before the son of Poseidon answered the door, Nico took a few deep breaths. He wanted to look as collected as possible. 

Percy looked shocked for a moment before relaxing. “I need to go to a hospital, there's someone who has a demigod working there,” Nico explained hurriedly. “I wanted to let you now, just so you knew, but I don’t want to force you to come, you have so many things here, and I can’t make you leave that, but I just wanted to let you know where I’ll be,” Nico said rushing through the sentence, thankful for the fact he didn’t stutter.

Nico turned around quickly to avoid a awkward conversation of how he couldn’t go along with him. If Nico was being honest, he wanted nothing more than for the green-eyed demigod to come with him, but he didn’t want to force Percy into anything like he explained.

Luckily, moments later, Percy was by the son of Hades’ side, a confused expression on his face. “There is nothing more important for me here,”

Nico couldn’t help the small blush that appeared on his cheeks. He knew Percy probably meant the baby, not HIM and the baby, but still, the phrasing of the words made blood rush to his cheeks.

“How do we plan on getting to this hospital? Personally, I don’t think shadow travel is the best option, but, I have Blackjack--”

“I’m not flying on that horse again,” 

“He is not just ‘that horse’ he is one of the best horses to ever exist,” Percy defended.

“Says the son of Poseidon,” Nico teased. “That’s like your fathers thing, horses and oceans, or whatever,”

“He’s more than just that,”

“Whatever,” Nico laughed. “I have this zombie driver, he’s Italian (a.n you be wrong, no judgement please)and can drive me anywhere,”

“That’s...fun?” The green-eyed boy laughed. Nico felt a strange feeling in his gut when he heard the older demigod laugh. He felt as if he should smile, but with everything that had happened, he found it hard to be carefree. 

He walked out of the strawberry fields and called for Jules-Albert. He appeared and the two demigods hopped into the black car, the son of Hades telling him the name of the hospital in his native language, which made Percy’s heart skip a beat.

The two boys drove in silence. Nico couldn’t tell if it was comfortable silence, or awkward. It was definitely a bit tense… The two demigods hadn’t talked much lately and it was very awkward, even when they weren’t just captured by the gods, openly talked about how much they cared for the baby that they created, and were now driving to a hospital, so now that all that had happened, it was definitely tense, like both of them wanted to speak, but neither knew how.

Percy was still shocked at the fact he was going to be a dad. He wasn’t really granted the time to process it. Yeah, he was happy, he knew he always wanted kids, but was he ready for it at simply 19? Probably not, not to mention he managed to get a boy pregnant. 

How was that possible? So, he was very shocked. Yet, he was happy, and also terrified. He was just having a rush of emotions, and the most powerful one, clouded over all, was anticipation. He didn’t know what to expect, what was to come next, and that made him anxious, but also curious. So. Many. Emotions. 

Then he felt guilty. He was sure Nico and Will might not make it. He didn’t know if Nico wanted to keep the baby, or felt he had to keep the baby. Percy was 19, and Nico was even younger, 17. Percy knew for a fact he wasn’t ready for kids at 17, he planned to have a completely normal life, with kids, and Annabeth at maybe 25? Not 19, and Nico was probably planning on a normal life, maybe kids, and probably with Will. And here they were, arriving at the hospital on Washington Ave.

“Grazie, saluta Serena per me e il piccolo Marco,” Nico smiled at the zombie driver before climbing out of the car, Percy following.

“What’d you say to him?” Percy asked as he watched the car drive away, then took a glance at the hospital.

“He has a family, I’ve met them, very nice, told him to say hi for me, basically,” The Ghost King said like it was one of the most obvious things in the world. He turned towards the hospital before taking a deep breath, clearly anxious. “Katelyn Holt,”

“What?” Percy asked, looking puzzled at the paler boy.

“The demigod who works here,” He paused and sighed. “Chiron said to find her and only her, probably because the whole boy being pregnant thing will freak mortals out,” Nico said with a small laugh, before walking in, followed by Percy.

The brown-eyed boy arrived at the counter and nicely asked for Katelyn Holt. They said she was busy, Nico insisted it was important, urgent even, and the nurse said what she was doing was also important. 

She recommended someone else but Nico just sighed and told the nurse he would just wait for Dr. Holt. The nurse sighed before waving over in the direction of some chairs and going back to whatever she was doing on her PC.

They sat in silence again. Neither of them were sure if it was a good silence or a bad silence, neither of them seemed to care.

They sat for at least an hour before a women, probably 5’6, very thin, her face showing her cheekbones. She had blonde hair with darker streaks in it. She wore light pink scrubs, and had the warmest golden eyes Percy had ever seen. 

Nico was a bit pained at the eyes, reminding him slightly of the golden flakes in Will’s eyes, but quickly found them warm inviting. His eyes went right down to the name tag, revealing the name ‘Dr. K. Holt.’

“I was told I had some very anxious patients waiting for me?” She said nicely. Nico sighed. He was confused on how to say what he was about to say.

“I’m a--” He dropped his voice to a whisper. “--demigod,” He brought his voice back up. “I was told to come to you, something has happened that I would really like to talk about, not in a waiting room,” Nico glanced at all the other people in the room. 

Katelyn understood immediately and ushered the two boys into a private room that reminded Nico of a office, so he just assumed it was her office.

“Okay, who are you two?” She asked, clearly confused, which Nico understood, he couldn’t imagine she was approached with ‘we’re demigods’ a lot.

“I’m Nico, Nico di Angelo,” The son of Hades said with a smile.

“Okay, and you are?”

“Percy,” The green-eyed demigod answered.

“Didn’t you too like, save the world?” She asked, not meaning to sound so confused, Nico could tell, but how could you not?

“Yeah,” Percy said nonchilantly.

“He saved it twice,” Nico added, before getting back on subject. “Anyway, I’m not going to dance around this, I’m pregnant, one month and 3 weeks now,”

Dr. Holt looked shocked for a millisecond before putting a professional face on. “Okay? Can I ask you a few questions?”

“Uh, sure?” Nico replied, watching the blonde pull out a clipboard. 

“Okay, first one, what was your birth sex?”

“Male, I thought, but here I am,” Nico said, gesturing around the room. 

The doctor let out a small chuckle before writing down the answer. “Okay, so you have no clue how this could happen,”

“Nope, not a single clue,” Nico replied as the doctor put on a puzzled expression. 

“Why isn’t the Apollo cabin helping you?” She asked. Nico hated the question, but he couldn’t blame her for asking it. It was an honest question.

“I was. . .See, the thing is, I pissed them off, majorly, but. . .maybe, I uh,” Nico didn’t want to start crying, but he didn’t even know how to word it without him seeming like a horrible person, who was he kidding though? He was a horrible person. “I just pissed them off, when I went there, they said they wouldn’t help me,”

Percy was shocked by this information. Was Will really not going to help him? Maybe they messed up, but this was Nico’s life, not keeping your ex’s belongings after a breakup.

“Oh, dear, um, have you asked the gods fo help?” She asked. Nico and Percy both glanced at each other before Percy began to explain. He could tell Nico was having a problem not tearing up.

“They think the child’s a threat. They want to exterminate, they also said, when they get a clear reading on it, they will try, so there not any help,”

Dr. Holt was shocked. She seemed to be wearing that expression the entire time of this conversation. It was always a battle between shock and confusion. “So you saw the gods, and they won’t help, not at all,”

“Not at all,” Nico confirmed. 

“Sorry for asking, but why?”

Percy spoke up. “I’m the son of Poseidon, he’s the son of Hades, so it’s the grandchild of two of the big three, meaning it could be a major threat to the gods--”

“And the gods always eliminate a threat,” Dr. Holt finished for Percy. “Trust me, I know, anyway, I guess we can do a check up, see maybe why this happened, you should be able to go home today, maybe stay overnight, depends on the results, If you two can follow me into a private room, no one else here is a demigod, so it will only be me who can help, but I have one other patient, it may be half an hour of a wait, then I’ll be with you,” She said while walking out her office into a hall with maybe 12 rooms, then going to the one in the very back left.

There was a bed, a chair, a counter, and some other medical devices, all of them worried Nico. Dr. Holt smiled. “I’ll be back as soon as possible,” She promised before walking out. Nico sat on the edge of the bed, then patted down next to him, motioning Percy over. 

“Did you see her face the entire time,” The son of Hades smiled weakly. “We’re probably one of the first demigods to come to her with this,”

“Yeah, I feel bad, she was trying to keep a professional composure but it was just to shocking,” Percy laughed lightly, followed by a small chuckle from Nico. There was a small silence. “You said earlier, when we were leaving,” Percy began.

Nico hummed to let Percy know he was listening.

“How you didn’t want to trap me into anything, going with you, the baby itself,”

“Oh,” Nico said. He wasn’t going to lie, he began thinking of 100 outcomes and almost all of them were bad.

“And I want you to know, you aren’t,” Percy placed a hand on the son of Hades’ knee. “Trapping me, not at all, and I thought I just had to say that, if you had to move to Ohio or something,” Nico laughed a bit. “I would still go, my own free will, you aren't trapping me, so just, don’t think that way, okay?”

The younger boy smiled and didn’t know what to say. He simply chuckled. “I don’t think I’d have to go to Ohio,”

“You know what I mean,” Percy laughed. There laughs weren’t happy, it was more of a sad laugh, yet, genuine. “And if you ever need anything, I’ll be here for you,”

Nico knew he shouldn’t have felt as touched as he had by those words, but he did. He also hated the blood that rushed to his face, causing his cheeks to be slightly pink. It wouldn’t have been as bad if his cheeks weren’t so pale.

“Thank you,” Nico said shyly.

There was silence and Nico’s mind roamed. He was here now and didn’t have much to think about besides the fact as he sat there with Percy, with his baby, he felt even worse about Will. Nico had dated him for two years and didn’t get the time to truly sulk. 

A few moments later, Dr. Holt walked in, her blonde hair now in a bun. She walked in, grabbing a clipboard off the counter and taking a breath. “So, I think we should start with a basic check up, then see where we should go from there,”

The two other demigods nodded in agreement, Percy jumped off the bed and down into the chair. Nico was told to scoot back a bit and relax and he felt a bit awkward. 

“I can feel the baby is very malnourished,” Dr. Holt started. “Have you been eating enough?”

Nico shook his head. “Not really. Everything I eat comes back up,” 

“Okay, well,” Katelyn placed her hands on Nico’s stomach. They were warm, but he was taken aback by the sudden contact. “You need to find what the baby likes, because it is very weak, especially being a demigod, and in a male, it’s going to need a lot more food and water, it may take awhile to find food they like, but you should definitely try and just eat a bit every day, then start eating more, the puking will stop eventually,”

She moved her hands around, “Honestly, you and the baby need more food,” She started. She removed her hands and ripped a piece of paper from the clipboard. “Try smoothies, here’s some good ones, recommended by parents,”

Nico looked at the small list before showing it to Percy, Percy took the paper and read over the list. They were simple smoothies and he made a mental note to ask his mom how to make them.

“Now, I just want to get a visual of the baby, since it’s very blurry to see, the entire thing is blurry to see, I probably wouldn’t be able to see anything if I didn’t know what to be looking for,”

She pulled out a few things from a drawer, then moved one of the medical machines closer. It had a monitor and a weird wand thing. “This ultrasound won’t show much, the baby will just look like a little dot, but they’ll be a heartbeat,” She said, smiling at the last part.

While Nico thought he should be ecstatic at this news, he got worried. What if there wasn’t a heartbeat, what if he didn’t eat enough and now the baby had died.

This entire time, he had his hands by his side, but he couldn’t help wanting to reach out for Percy’s hand. Dr Holt pulled out a tube thing, and it reminded Nico of lube, and he felt bad for thinking that, then she told him it would be cold and if he could lift up his shirt, and he did, and then she put some of the jelly on Nico’s stomach.

She was right it was cold, and Nico got the urge to put his hands in Percy’s again. 

She then took the weird wand thing and rubbed it around on his stomach. It was silent for a moment, neither boys knowing what to expect, and then there was a noise, similar to a drum sound. 

“Dr. Holt?” Nico asked. “What’s that noise?”

“It’s the heartbeat,” Nico was so shocked at her response, he didn’t even care, he turned to Percy a smile plastered on both of their faces, when he turned away, there hands were now interlocked.

“Really?” the son of Hades asked, still shocked. 

“Yes,” She laughed, “A very strong one,” She moved the wand around, and her smile from the heartbeat disappeared.

“Dr.Holt?” Nico asked again. “What’s wrong?” The smile was slipping from the pale boys face.

“Call me Kate,” She said before sighing. “I think we should be on a first name basis,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Imma just go ahead and say, the news isn't good,


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Talking a bit of miscarriages, not really though, but with something like this I think it's fair to just warn.

“Call me Kate,” She said before sighing. “I think we should be on a first name basis, we’ll be spending a lot more time together,”

“W-What?” Nico said, a damn stutter showing up. “W-What’s that su-supposed to mean?”

“Something’s wrong, and I don’t mean to cause worry, but something is very wrong,” The doctor said grimly.

“J-Just tell me what it is!” Nico pleaded, preparing for the worst.

“It’s more malnourished than I thought, like, deathly ill,” The blonde doctor said. She maneuvered the wand around, “I think it has something to do with the power of the baby, it needs twice, if not triple, the amount of nutrients, but it was barely getting enough,” She saw Nico’s face. “Oh! No, don’t give me that face, it’s in no way your fault, dear, you couldn’t have known,”

“B-But I did know, I knew for a little bit, I could have started, I could have done something,” 

“Hunny, no, even if you tried, the amount the child is asking for, without knowing how much you would have to eat, how much help the baby would need to stay healthy, you couldn’t have done anything, it’s just since the conditions, it is --” She was having trouble saying the words.

“You can say it, I can take it,” Nico said, his hold on Percy’s hand gowing tighter, he didn’t mean to, it just happened. 

“The baby is near death,” She said, pain clear in her voice. Nico found tears swelling in his eyes. He wanted to pull his knees close to his chest, but he couldn’t considering the wand and strange gelly on his stomach.

“N-Near D-Death, I- W-What?” Nico stuttered, he didn’t dare make eye contact with the son of Poseidon. 

“I wish I could give you more answers, but this is a unique case, all I know is if you waited any longer, the baby could have died,”

“What can - H-How can,” Nico stuttered.

“You need to be on a strict diet of just eating, and you’ll have to come back regularly, more regularly then most pregnancies for check-ups, not to mention I’ll have to try and think of a food for you to help the baby, something with nectar in it...maybe ambrosia, and the baby will be battling with nourishment issues the entire time,”

“I-I-I,” Nico hated how he couldn’t seem to get a single word out without stuttering. 

“It’s okay, don’t stress it, basically though, you’ll need to stay near the hospital, if not in it, but I know spending the next nine months here won’t be the most comfortable, is there a place closer to here then camp,”

Nico was about to answer but Percy chimed in. “My apartment, just down that way, it’s way closer,”

Dr. Holt nodded, “Okay, but I would appreciate if you would stay over night while I try and make a better diet plan, and by that, try to make some food with Ambrosia and Nectar that won’t harm the baby,” 

Nico nodded, shocked at how quickly Percy volunteered his house. 

“Also I would like to try and find out how this happened if you don’t mind, it may make it easier to treat it,”

Nico nodded again and Dr. Holt walked out.

Nico didn’t move his hand away from Percy’s, but he did loosen the grip. “I’m sorry,” The younger boy muttered. 

Percy - not taking away his hand - sat down next to Nico on the bed. Dr. Holt had wiped the gloop of his stomach so he put his shirt down and sat up. Percy looked Nico in the eyes. “It’s not your fault, don’t apologize, you heard her,”

“B-But if I had a-arrived earlier I might have b-been able t-too -”

“No, there was nothing you could do, nothing could have made it better, it’s not your fault, and you shouldn’t be apologizing,”

“B-But -” 

Percy brought his spare hand up and wiped a tear away from Nico’s face. Nico really wanted to just jump into the taller boys arms, but he knew he shouldn’t, even though he was no longer dating Will, there was no way he could just move on that quickly, and Percy probably wouldn’t want another relationship yet either, especially not with Nico. “It wasn’t your fault, okay?”

Nico didn’t reply, he just looked down. Percy settled back down into his chair, his hand still in Nico’s. It was such a simple gesture, but it sent the son of Hades over the moon.

There was a quick silence, and it was broken by the green-eyed boy, as usual, “About volunteering my apartment, you don’t need to, I just didn’t want her to assume camp was your only option, because then she may make a plan that involved there, and I didn’t think you’d want that, but you can refuse,”

Nico smiled. “Thank you,” He turned towards Percy. “And you were right,” There was a pause as Nico thought of what to say next. “Don’t you live with you mom? Does she even know about this,” He gestured to his stomach. “What about you and Annabeth? She could hate me you know? I know she really liked Chase, and now you bring home some pregnant guy, emphasis on GUY, and she probably--”

“Calm down, you’re rambling,” Percy laughed lightly. It was almost force and very grim, considering the news they had just heard. “She knows about Annabeth, and she understood, I told her about why we broke up, she knows it’s you, she just doesn’t know the pregnant thing because, well when I told her, I didn’t know, but I’m sure she’ll love you, she’s just amazing like that,”

Nico smiled lightly but didn’t reply as he looked back down at his lap, the small bump not showing through his black shirt.

There was yet another silence. The son of Hades was the one who broke it this time. “You don’t have to stay, you know?”

“What?” Percy asked, shock in his voice, it was like he was offended, but just shocked.

“If you don’t want to, I appreciate everything you’re doing, staying here with me, offering your apartment, but, you don’t have to, this whole thing, it’s a lot to take in, I couldn’t ask you to do it if you didn’t want to,”

Percy shook his head. “I don’t know how many times I’m going to have to say this, I want to, okay? You’re not forcing anything upon me, I don’t regret following you to this hospital, or every other step I took to get to this point, okay?”

Nico nodded his head, still looking down. 

Time passed and Kate only came in a few more times, took Nico’s blood work, told them about a nurse, Marco, who could see beyond the mist and he could help them whenever. Marco then talked them through options, not knowing their decision was made, then the night rolled around and Nico found himself getting tired and could tell the son of Poseidon was also feeling drowsy, but was sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair.

Percy chuckled, his eyes closed as he laid back in the chair. “You can stop looking at me all concerned, I’m fine,” 

Nico felt blood rush to his cheeks and he turned away from the taller boy. He hid his face in his blanket as he turned away, his back facing the other boy.

In the morning, Percy woke up before the son of Hades. He was thankful for this, because he knew Nico well enough to know that if he had morning sickness, he wouldn’t wake Percy, and might not even tell Percy about it.

Percy knew he had to tell his mother about his upcoming visit, along with Nico and his child, he slowly stood up, careful not to make much noise and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He pulled out a golden drachma.

“Sally Jackson,” He said quietly after running the sink and plugging the bottom.

A screen appeared in front of him to his mother in her morning robes, making coffee. “Mom,” Percy said, trying to grab her attention. Sally jumped, before facing her son though the screen. She smiled before rolling her eyes.

“Percy you scared the crap out of - where are you? That doesn’t look like your cabin?”

Percy put on a guilty expression, “That’s because it’s not, I’m at the mortal hospital,”

Her face dropped. “WHY? Oh, gods, Perce, are you okay?”

“Me?” He said, “Yes, but remember how I did something bad that made me come to the decision of breaking up with Annabeth?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I do recall,” While his mother supported him no matter what, and didn’t mind him breaking up with the blonde, she definitely frowned upon the cheating thing. She was afraid he was taking after his Uncle Zeus.

“And, you know how being Greek, you should always expect things to go, I wouldn't say wrong, but differently?”

“Yeah?” Her face was now skeptical, “Perseus Jackson, what’s going on?”

“Well, Nico, yeah, he got pregnant, and the Apollo campers won’t help us because he was dating the head counselor, and the gods won’t help because they think the child it to big of a threat, so the baby is in constant danger, and we are at a mortal hospital with a demigod who works heer, and she’s nice, but basically the baby is in critical condition, and if we went back to camp, Nico couldn’t get the care he needed for himself, and the baby, and since our apartment is close I said he could stay there, but I know you’re busy, but I don’t want them to get hurt, and I wasn’t really thinking of your reaction at the time I guess, and I know Paul’s a factor, and I’m sorry, and what do I do?” Percy rambled without taking more than one breath. Sally was silent and Percy found tears strolling down his face. His mom was just always there for him, and sometimes she knew when it was best not to talk and usually would hug him during these times, but Iris Messaging didn’t go that advanced yet.

After a few moments, Percy wiped away the tears remaining and looked at his mom. 

She was definitely shocked, but her expression had soften. “Of course you can come home, we can talk more about it later,”

“Okay,” Percy said, there was a silence of Percy looking down at his shoes, hands holding him up by grasping the sink.

“Perce,” Sally began. 

“Mhm?” He asked, looking up at his mother. 

“I’m proud of you, sticking my his side like this,”

Percy smiled lightly before he heard the sounds of Nico standing up, Percy opened the door as Nico ran in. Percy waved through the screen so his mom wouldn’t have to hear the son of retching up the little food in his stomach.

He felt a bit guilty for dismissing his mother like that, but she probably would have appreciated it if she knew what was about to happen, she was one of those people who would vomit if someone else would.

Nico’s hands were gripping the ceramic of the toilet tightly as he vomited mostly water into the bowl, nothing more was left to puke, Percy rubbed his back, holding some of his hair back. 

Nico placed the back of his wrist against his mouth, the other hand still steading himself. The paler boy waited a few moments before using the hand he was covering his mouth with to flush the bowl, then bringing his hand back up to his mouth, breathing deeply.

“You okay?” Percy asked, then winced at the stupidity of his question. “Well, as okay as someone can be after puking?”

Nico let out a small laugh. He looked down and leaned his head on the bowl. The dark brown eyes that were usually very wide were now closed. “I don’t know what’s even coming up anymore,” Nico said grimly, his eyes still squeezed shut, “If I can’t keep, literally nothing down, how do I keep food? H-How am I supposed to - This is why it’s so sick, I can’t keep anything down,”

Percy shook his head. “You can’t say that. Please don’t say that, okay? Please?” 

Nico chose not to reply and looked down before sighing and standing up. Percy followed after him, helping Nico into bed before placing himself back into the chair next to the bed, his hands going into his pockets.

“Sorry for interrupting the call earlier,” Nico said. “I didn’t know who you were calling, but I clearly had interrupted,” Nico said with a laugh at the end.

“Nah, it was just my mom,”

“You hung up on your mom!?” Nico exclaimed.

“She’ll understand, I just had made sure she wasn’t hosting like three parties back to back or something,” Percy said, hiding away the truth of the situation and everything that was said.

“Oh,” Was all the younger boy said. He made a noise as if he was going to hurl, but covered his mouth quickly and took a deep breath. He took his hand away before breathing deeply again.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” Nico confirmed. The son of Hades swore to himself he wasn’t going to puke anymore. He needed to keep it in, and while he couldn’t keep everything in, he was going to make an effort to stop puking as much.

Nico looked down, breathing slowly, keeping his nausea at bay. They stayed there for a few more moments before Dr. Holt walked in. “Oh,” She said, a small amount of shock in her voice. “Didn’t expect you guys to be up this early, how are you guys doing?”

“Just puked up half my water weight, besides that, I have a really good feeling he’s hungry,”

Percy looked shocked. “What?” He laughed lightly. “How did you just assume that?”

“I knew you wouldn’t tell me, I heard you’re stomach growling though,”

Percy blushed and Nico just smiled a bit, Dr. Holt looked concerned. “Your having morning sickness? What are you throwing up,”

“Great question, I was kind of hoping you could figure that out for me,”

Kate jotted down something on a clipboard, her blonde hair in a messy bun, and walked over to Nico, grabbing some things out of a drawer that the son of Hades assumed was used to take his blood pressure. 

“I don’t know about the morning sickness, but I did some research from the greek times last night, on male pregnancy, my boyfriend thought I was going insane,” She commented. “Anyway, you’re a child of the big three right?”

“Y-Yeah,” Nico said, a stutter appearing making Nico mentally cringe.

“Well, sometimes to keep heroes going with different sorts of power, if a greek god or goddess hasn’t had children in a long time, or won’t plan on having anymore anytime soon, and the only offspring they’ve had in awhile is male, they can adapt the power to get pregnant, keeping heroes around for another generation or so, without having to have more kids.

“Basically, the gods want to keep their powers around for awhile, but don’t want to have the kids, so they bet on having a female, but if that doesn’t happen, sometimes The Fates allow the male to get pregnant, and while your father probably didn’t plan on wanting you to get pregnant, or have that ability, but the Fates decided otherwise,”

Nico shook his head. “I had a sister, it doesn’t make sense, she could have done whatever bidding or birthing or whatever,”

“Was she ever able to do that though?” Dr. Holt asked, basically politely asking if she died.

“She joined the hunters of artemis, then she had passed away,”

“See, even if the Fates wouldn’t see her passing, or her joining the hunters, they could probably see one or the other, they knew the big three wouldn’t be able to have any more kids, and she knew your sister wouldn’t be able to have kids, it was a survival adaptations that gave you the power to carry children,”

Nico didn’t know how reply so he just made a noise in agreement. He was never so keen on talking openly about his sister so he felt uncomfortable. Percy picked up on that so he broke the silence. 

“Then why were the gods so shocked about it?”

Dr. Kate shrugged. “They weren’t shocked of the pregnancy of a male, I’m assuming, probably more of the fact it was two big three parents,”

All three of the demigods went silent as Kate finished taking Nico’s blood pressure. “I think you should be able to go home later today, just make sure to try and eat more, even if it comes back up, even if it makes you nauseous, just try to eat, you know?”

Nico nodded as the doctor finished, wrote some things down and clicked a button on her scrubs. “Marco will be here shortly to bring some hospital food, it isn’t the greatest, but it’s pancakes, so they can’t be that bad, I’ll be back in a bit with discharge papers,” And with that, the doctor left Percy and Nico alone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment! I love reading them!!


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Such a small mention of Anorexia I was debating to even put a warning; Also such a small mention of termination I don't think I need a warning, but it is way better to know than to not...love you guys, and all the support <3

The pancakes were horrible. There was nothing good about them. They were chewy, but crunchy at the same time, it was horrible. If Nico wasn’t already having problems with keeping food down, he would have puked them up. It was horrible, though he refused to tell Kate when she asked.

She walked in with a small stack of papers, saying Nico just needed to sign a few things. He nodded and took the pen before signing his names on a few of the papers. Percy had made a few signatures, then they were free to go home. Nico was extremely nervous as he walked down the hospital, awaiting the arrival of Jules-Albert.

Dr. Holt had given Nico and Percy a pager. If they alerted her on it, she would clear everything and they would simply need to drive over and she’d be ready, but she said to only use in emergencies. 

She told Nico to eat a little more everyday until eating a whole meal was easier. Yet, Nico couldn’t help being nervous, with all the advice the doctor had given him, he found his palms sweating.

“It’s going to be okay, calm down,” Percy said, a light smile across his tan skin. Nico simply nodded as the car pulled up. Percy asked Nico if he would have to say the address in Italian, and which Nico laughed lightly, “No, the English version’ll be just fine,” 

Percy said the address and Jules-Albert was off, and Nico was still nervous. He knew it was going to be very awkward when he walked in. He was vaguely aware of how much Sally loved Annabeth, and now he was carrying Percy’s baby, and was also a guy, so it was going to be horribly awkward, but there wasn’t much Nico could do about it. He needed this place. It was better than camp, and he’d be closer to Percy.

Moments later, the car stopped and they were in front of an apartment complex. Percy led the way, “I don’t think my mom’s home right now, neither is Paul, he has 7 to like, 6, and my mom is at a book signing, she’ll probably be back any second now,”

Nico nodded shyly. Words couldn’t explain how nerve-wracking everything was. He knew it would be awkward. He was an awkward person, and even if no one else felt awkward, he would.

“Hey,” Percy said, smiling, “There’s nothing to worry about, okay?”

Once again, Nico simply nodded as they got to correct apartment. Percy unlocked the door and gestured for Nico to walk in. The son of Hades did just that, taking in the surroundings. It was a basic New York apartment. There was a small living room, and even smaller kitchen, and a small table somewhere in the middle. There was a hallway, it contained two room, and a bathroom. Nico assumed one of those rooms were Percy’s, and the other was Paul and Sally’s. 

“You can stay in my room,” Percy smiled, leading the way down the hallway into the farthest room. The door swung open and there was a dresser, a desk, and bed. The comforter was a navy blue, the pillows were white, and there was what seemed to be a fire escape with flowers growing on it.

“But,” Nico began, looking around, he wanted to ask ‘where will you sleep?’ because Nico didn’t exactly plan on sharing the bed with Percy, but he didn’t know how to say it without coming across as rude.

Percy clearly understood and smiled. “I’ll sleep out on the couch, don’t worry,”

“But -”

“No, it’s fine, it’s actually really comfortable,” He smiled, it was hard to describe the smile. It wasn’t fake, and it was weak, but it was just - hard to describe. “I know you’re probably not hungry, but breakfast wasn’t exactly the best, I can try and make one of the things Dr. Holt recommended, or maybe something completely different,” Percy rambled.

Nico nodded slightly, feeling very out of place. “S-sure,”

Percy nodded before walking out of the door, Nico followed him all the way into the kitchen, he leaned against the wall as he watch Percy flip through a cookbook. He looked utterly confused, Nico couldn’t help the small laugh escaping his lips. “Have you ever cooked anything in your life?”

“Um,” Percy dragged out the ‘m’ for a while, thinking. “Not really,” He finally answered, a small blush forming on his tan skin.

“Well, here,” Nico said, walking closer to the counter. “What were you looking at?”

Percy pointed to a simple recipe of fluffy scrambled eggs. Nico let out an amused noise at the simplicity of the recipe, and just how stumped Percy was on it. Percy questioned what he was on about, Nico just waved him off and asked where the frying pan was.

Percy walked over and brought Nico the most gigantic pan Nico had ever seen, one used to make something like, a stew or something.

“Okay,” Nico laughed lightly. “One a bit smaller, please?”

The son of Poseidon put the large pan back, grabbing a more regular sized one. Nico thanked him and turned on the oven. “Can you find me the eggs, I don’t really know where anything is,” Nico said, grabbing some cooking spray that was resting on the counter near the oven. He sprayed the pan, looking over as Percy searched through the fridge.

“Are these good?” He asked bringing them over. Nico bite back a snarky comment, what other eggs would he have wanted? Dragon eggs? 

“Yes,” The shorter boy said, a bit of laugh in his voice. “These are fine,”

He let the pan heat up a bit before asking Percy for the milk, salt, and pepper. The son of Poseidon brought him the requested items, and Nico cracked one egg.

“Would your mom want some? I should make her some, I mean, I’m using her kitchen, the least I can do is make her some eggs,” Nico asked, finding himself getting nervous over her arrival.

“She might not be hungry,” Percy pointed out, but Nico couldn’t stop worrying over it.

“Yeah, but I’d rather her not eat it, than not have the option, because then I’ll feel bad if she comes home and is like starving, and I just ate,”

“I don’t think that’ll ha-”

“I’ll just make her some,”

“Okay,” Percy laughed, sitting up on the counter as he watched the brown-eyed boy crack over half a dozen eggs. He stirred them lightly before adding the milk, then adding salt and pepper. Before too long, Nico asked the green-eyed boy for some plates. Percy grabbed three, and Nico put an event amount of eggs on each plate. 

Percy was expecting that to be it, but instead Nico walked over to the sink and proceeded to clean off the pan, drying it off, and turning it upside down on the white rag next to the sink. The son of Poseidon rolled his eyes at Nico, but the younger boy ignored him, grabbing his plate and sitting down at the table, where Percy joined him.

“I never realized how polite you are,” Percy laughed. “You’ve always been a bit sarcastic and snappy to me,”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I have the power to be nice, I just don’t waste it on stupid people,” He teased lightly, giving a small laugh at the end to show he wasn’t being serious at all.

Nico couldn’t remember the last time he didn’t feel completely horrible. Of course, all the problems of the last month and a half were still nagging at him. Will, the pregnancy, the fact his mom could walk in at any moment, how the baby was in critical condition, how the gods were out for the baby, how the gods had said it was so painful, Nico may be begging for termination, that was all still there, but at this moment, he felt a little more relaxed.

He only picked at his food, not wanting to eat to much to fast and have it all come back up, but he did notice just how hungry he had been, and found it difficult to pace himself from scarfing down the food in front of him. 

After the son of Hades had picked through a few bites of egg, Sally walked in. Her messenger back dropped over her shoulder, and wearing a totally mom outfit, and completely rocking it. She looked shocked for a half a second when she saw the two boys, but her shock faded into happiness and she greeted them both with open arms. “Hey, boys,” She said, after hugging the two demigods. 

She placed her back down before looking around a bit. “How are you two doing,”

“Good,” Percy said, the son of Hades humming in agreement, even it wasn’t even near the truth. “Nico made you some food, if you want it,”

Nico felt blood rush to his cheeks at the mention of something he’d done. Making the eggs was supposed to be an anonymous thing. Like, she walked into the kitchen and just saw food, and then probably throw it out, and Nico felt like crawling into a hole, but then she saw the smile that spread over the girl’s face and his anxiety eased up a bit. 

Sally smiled warmly at him, before thanking him, and saying how Percy never did anything at all, in a teasing manner, before lightly patting her son’s arm. Nico let out a small laugh before taking another bite of his egg, but stopping abruptly when he felt a familiar feeling of saliva forming in his mouth.

Percy looked at him with concern, Nico simply shook his head dismissing it, he covered his mouth and breathed deeply before deeming it safe to remove his hand, though he wasn’t going to push anything by taking another bite.

What worried him the most, at the time being, was how similar this reminded him of when he had anorexia after the war with Gaia, he couldn’t eat anything without puking afterwards, and, while it seemed impossible, and he was probably kidding himself, could he have malnourished the baby so much that it developed the disease? It seemed impossible, but nothing is impossible.

Shortly after, Sally had joined them, where they had a seemingly calm conversation, but there was always the elephant in the room, and there were actually two elephants in the room, all about the same thing.

One being Percy’s breakup.

The other being the pregnancy.

Nico couldn’t have cut the tension with a knife, so to excuse himself he politely collected the dishes, and walked over to the sink. He never had a problem doing housework. When he was younger, he had many chores, dishes was one of them, he tried to get back in the headspace of being a simple, carefree child, where his biggest challenge was having to sweep the house.

Sally insisted to make Percy do it, but it was simply three dishes and three forks, so he had no problem completing it. When he was done, he dried everything off and asked Percy where everything went. The son of Poseidon just did it for him.

The rest of the day was spent engaging in the same comfortable conversation, with the same strange tension in the room.

When Paul got home, he greeted Nico warmly. He explained he had no clue about half the stuff going on, but he tries his best to understand everything. Nico laughed lightly and they went on with there day.

At dinner, Nico helped as much as he could, he told Sally he had only needed a small plate, she understood and told him she wouldn’t be offended if he couldn’t finish it. 

Nico helped set the table, he felt it was the least he could do. They all sat down and talked about what Paul had encountered at school that day, Nico couldn’t help the small laughs that he made at some of the points in the teachers story.

He then asked if Sally needed help cleaning up, but she rolled her eyes and told him she was fine and he was way to helpful. Nico blushed at the small praise before walking awkwardly away into Percy’s room.

Percy was out on the fire escape, looking at the bright lights from the buildings in contrast of the dark night sky. “Hi,” Nico said as he climbed onto the platform, looking at the flowers that were proudly growing.

“Hey,” Percy replied. “I told you, you had nothing to worry about,”

Nico made a small hum before leaning against the railing. He looked out at the sky, then down below, watching the cars driving by, their headlights shining brightly. 

“If you want to go to sleep, I can get out,” Percy said after a moment. 

“No,” Nico rolled his eyes. “I just would have felt bad if I stood there and watched your mom clean, she told me she didn’t need help, but, you know,” Nico shrugged, still looking at the cars in the traffic below them. New York, the town that never sleeps.

“Oh,” Percy said, leaning against the railing comfortably this time. “And, if you want to take a shower, the towels are in there, and you can wear whatever you want in my closet, I know that’s sort of weird, but I was just thinking maybe, you know, and my mom likes to coupon, so don’t worry about using all the soap, there’s plenty, also we have deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other things, like dish soap, laundry detergent, chips, everything, the whole shebang, so don’t worry about anything, I know you tend to do that,”

Nico laughed lightly, “Shut up, and thank you,” He paused. “For everything,”

“It’s nothing,” Percy looked down at Nico, his pale skin easily seen in the darkness. “Really,”

“Still, thank you,”

Percy smiled before the two boys sat there in comfortable silence. Percy left shortly after and Nico decided to take a shower, brush his teeth with one of the toothbrushes, and then passed out on the bed after putting on his same boxers, and a fresh shirt. He tried to find the smallest shirt Percy had, but he was just so much taller than him and it made the task easier said than done.

~

Percy walked out his room and sat down on the couch, running the TV down low. He heard Nico turn the shower on and was glad the son of Hades decided to listen to him. Percy walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bag of goldfish and a Dr. Pepper before sitting down on the couch again, wrapping himself up in a blanket, and watching the TV.

He noticed the water turning off then followed by a door opening, closing, and another door repeated those same steps. Percy hoped the brown-eyed boy would have no problems falling asleep. He would need as much energy as he could get.

Half an hour later, he heard another door open, he looked behind him to see his mom smiling at him as she walked over to him. She was wearing a tank top and simple pajama pants. Her hair was up and she had a robe wrapped around her. Percy would never get over how just warm and motherly his mother truly was.

“Hey, Hun,” she smiled, sitting down on the couch next to the son of Poseidon. Percy smiled at her offering her some goldfish, she took a handful, putting on in her mouth.

She chewed for a moment before speaking up. “He seems nice,” She said, her voice comforting.

“He really is, a bit sarcastic, very snarky, a bit moody sometimes, but always means well, rather he’ll ever admit it or not,”

Sally laughed lightly, looking at the TV, but Percy knew she was thinking of what to say next. There was another moment where the only sound to be heard was the programm on the TV about Zebra’s. 

“You plan on staying with him, right? Through, not only the pregnancy, but the raising of the child,”

Percy answered without hesitation. “Of course,”

Another silence. Sally looked away from the TV, a small, warm, smile present on her face. “I’m proud of how you’re reacting,” She spoke.

Percy smiled back at her. “Thanks,” He said, “There's a lot of issues going on for us, more than the pregnancy, but I still plan on being there, no matter what happens,”

Sally’s smile was still present. “This isn’t how I expected it, but I’m glad I’m going to be a grandmother,”

The son of Poseidon couldn’t contain himself as he reached over to hug his mother. Because, she was right, no one expected it to be this way, but he was glad he was going to become a father, and he was even more glad Sally was ready to be the grandmother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, sorry if this chapter seemed a bit rushed <3


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Small mention of anorexia and depression (Past)

Nico was now two months pregnant. He wasn’t eating anymore than he was a month ago, but the baby was rejecting the food less, but Nico was still puking at least twice a day, if he was lucky.

Nico was constantly busy here. He didn’t have to be, Sally insisted over and over again he didn’t have to do anything, but he felt bad if he just ate her food, let her do the dishes, the laundry by herself, so he helped every second he could. 

He would clean and reclean, then clean again, he would organize the shelves, do the dishes, make food, he even helped Sally with sorting out her papers. 

The son of Hades relationship with Percy’s mom was strange to say the least. From what Nico could understand, she like him, but not the fact he was carrying Percy’s baby. Nico couldn’t blame her. That was his son, and he was, from an outsiders eye, just mooching off of him. Nico was sleeping in his bed and wearing his clothes. He knew it was Sally’s job to be worried, but he, for a reason he didn’t know, really wanted the woman to like him.

When Nico was three months pregnant, Percy was getting worried again. The baby was causing Nico to puke even more than before. They decided not to page Kate, but did call for Jules-Albert to take them, plus, Nico wanted to hear the heartbeat again, and he knew Percy did too.

Kate greeted the two demigods with smiles as she led them to the familiar room. Nico glanced at the still very intimidating machinery and sat on the bed as he was instructed to do, Percy taking a seat in the chair.

This wasn’t the first time that Nico looked over at the son of Poseidon and felt a rush of feelings hit him. He was so thankful for everything Percy was doing, and while he was probably doing it for the baby, not Nico, he couldn’t help the feelings that swelled in his chest.

“Okay, so puking still?” She asked, putting down the clipboard she was previously carrying, she pulled out the familiar gel, only after popping on a pair of rubber gloves.

“Yes,” Nico began. She gestured for him to lay down on the bed. “It was getting better, but then it got worse, and I hadn’t changed the diet at all, but it just - they had stopped accepting it I guess,”

Kate smiled as she asked if he could pull up his shirt. The son of Hades nodded before lifting up to show his larger bump. The doctor smiled even more at that. “It seems to be the right size, so the eating is helping I see,” She placed her hand on his stomach. “Still is weak though, but way better,”

Nico smiled slightly at the good news, looking over at Percy on instinct and noticed he was smiling as well, which made Nico smile even more for some reason.

“I’m going to put the gel on now,” She warned, popping the cap of the bottle open. Nico nodded and she put a reasonable size dollop on his stomach. It was cold, and Nico took a sharp breath before calming down his breathing.

Dr. Holt took the wand thing and placed it on the brown-eyed boys stomach. She smiled warmly as the heartbeat sounded. Percy’s hand found Nico’s in joy. The two boys had gotten less awkward in the last two months but they never really spoke of the baby, just the fact that it was there was enough for them. They acted more as two people who were friends and were living together.

Though, Nico was always thinking of things to say, and always thinking. He thought of Will. He thought of what would happen after the baby was born, he thought of what would happen if Percy got tired of taking care of him, but on the outside, they were friends, friends who had sex.

“It’s louder,” Percy pointed out. He was smiling ear to ear, his green eyes shining brightly.

“Y-Yeah,” Nico stuttered. He hated how he stuttered sometimes, but at the moment, the son of Hades couldn’t seem to care. “It is,”

“It’s because it’s stronger,” Kate said with a smile. She moved around. “It seems to be 13 weeks now, so the next time you come in, which should be the next month, we may be able to tell the sex of the baby, if you guys would like to know,”

Nico wanted to know. The dark-haired wanted nothing more than to know the sex of his future child, but once again, he and Percy never spoke of these things, so he didn’t know what the other boys reaction to the situation would be. 

Nico smiled giddily and squeezed Percy’s hand tighter.

Kate moved the wand around a little longer before cleaning everything up. She wrote some things down before speaking up in the silent room. “I think I know what may help,” She began, the son of Hades listened with much hope. “I’m going to give you some Nectar, I asked camp for some as soon as I took you boys as my patient, I also grabbed ambrosia, but I think if you just put some Nectar in with your regular food, or just drink some afterwards, it will help. The baby, while they are a half-blood, they are an extremely strong and powerful one, so I think the drink of the gods could truly help the food stay down,”

Nico nodded, taking in all the information. Camp. Camp sent Nectar and Ambrosia. Nico missed camp.

Kate spoke a while more before pulling Nectar out of a cabinet. It was maybe half a litter. “You won’t need much, just a bit with everything you eat. If it does stop, the puking, eat more with it, adjust the intake of nectar with it,” 

Nico nodded, listening and memorizing every word she said. Nico wanted nothing more than to make sure the baby was safe, and these instructions were going to help keep the baby safe, so Nico was soaking up every word of information.

After the check-up, Nico and Percy called for the zombie-driver and went back to the apartment. Nico chose to bring up about finding out the sex of the baby later.

When they got back, no one was home. Nico made food, Percy smiled as he noticed the mac and cheese shaped as Finding Nemo characters.

“Why didn’t you just use the regular noodles?” Percy asked as he took a bite of the food. Nico shrugged, sitting down next to the son of Poseidon on the couch. 

“They taste better,”

They flipped through shows to watch, each sitting on seperate sides of the small couch. Nico then recommended Harry Potter. Percy said how he had never watched the movies. Nico wasn’t having it and told the green-eyed boy to get the movies, and that Nico was going to run some errands.

When Percy asked Nico what those errands were, he waved him off and called for Jules-Albert.

“Camp Half-Blood, per favore,” Nico said, buckling his seatbelt. He placed his hands carefully over his stomach as he was driven to a strawberry field. Nico needed very badly to get some of his own clothes. He enjoyed wearing Percy’s clothes, but that got old once he had to wear a pair of his jeans, that were way to big.

He thanked the driver, before requesting he stay there, and that Nico will be back in a moment. The son of Hades walked into the fields, looking at the familiar sight he had convinced himself he hated. He made his way to Cabin 13 and walked into the door. 

Everything was like he left it, almost. Will’s drawer that he kept everything in was bare, and when Nico walked over to the wooden bedside table, it was also empty. He held back tears at the thought of a heart broken Will rummaging in the drawer, grabbing his belongings.

This intrigued Nico to look around. Will’s red converse that were always there, were missing. The pictures that littered the walls of Will and Nico were gone, the tacks still in the walls, all holding small pieces of the pictures, indicating Will had most likely ripped off the photographs.

Will’s stack of books, the cactus Will insisted Nico needed, that they named because they were dorks, John, was gone. Will’s marker collection, and his bright yellow jacket. It was all missing. Nico realized how much of the things in his room were Will’s. 

Nico wiped the tear that managed to escape before placing a hand over his stomach. He walked into his closet and grabbed a bag. It was an olive green back, black straps and a silver zipper. He began packing joggers and T-shirts into the bag. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to fit in his jeans, so he didn’t even bother packing them. 

He also added a few pairs of underwear and some socks, the fluffiest ones he could find, they were all black, minus one pair, they were dark grey.

Nico zipped up the bag of clothes before opening a drawer, pulling out a box the size of a graham cracker, he opened the box, it was full of Mythomagic cards. No matter what sex the baby was, they had to play this game. As much as he tried, Percy was rubbish, and Nico needed someone to play against.

Nico sighed before turning around towards the door, but was shocked when he saw a figure in the doorframe.

“W-Will?” Nico asked, his voice wavering, he put his bag down on the floor.

“Nico,” He said, he took a step into the cabin and closed the door behind him. Nico knew Will was going to yell. Will was allowed to yell. He deserved the right to yell.

Yet, for around ten minutes, there was only silence.

“After everything,” Will said. “Nico, I thought I had found the man I was going to marry, I knew the day I fell in love with you, Neeks, I was going to marry you, and then you - how? How were you able to? After everything, how were you able to cheat on me?”

Nico went to speak, but Will spoke up before he could.

“When you came into camp after the war, you were so sick, anorexic, depressed, Nico I helped you, and then I fell in love with you, and I thought I was going to marry you,”

Nico tried to talk but no words came out, he stood there, his mouth attempting to form words, but Will spoke for him.

“It’s - I loved you, dammit, Nico, I still love you, and you fucked someone else,”

“Will, I was drunk,” Nico said, his voice wavering as tears gathered in his eyes. “You know that, that if I wasn’t I would have never -” Was that true though? Nico couldn't remember to well, like he said, he was drunk, but he wasn’t THAT drunk. He knew what he was doing. He knew.

“I call bullshit,” Will’s country accent had grown stronger. “I saw the screen, I saw the look in your eyes, and it wasn’t lust, it wasn’t alcohol, is was love, Nico I saw a look in your eyes as he entered you that I haven’t seen you give me in years and that’s what sucked the most!”

The son of Hades was at a loss of words, he quickly spoke, words not making sense, but he finally got words out soon enough. “Will, I loved you, and I still love you, I - I -”

“‘I’ what? What do you think you can say?”

“Will, I’m sorry,”

“Thanks, it means the world to me,” He said, sarcasm dripping from every venomous word. 

“Please, I am, I never meant to hurt you, Will I was DRUNK!”

Nico was now crying, tears rolling down his face, Will was also crying just as much. They didn’t get to fight after the breakup, this was there fight, a very long awaited fight.

“BUT YOU STILL SLEPT WITH HIM!” Will screamed through a tear-stained face.

“I KNOW! I am fully aware of my action, Will! I was -”

“Drunk, I know!” Will exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air as he cried more. Neither one of them were wiping the tears away, it wouldn’t have mattered, more would have came. “But you still knew! You knew what you were doing!”

“I would never hurt you on purpose, Will,” Nico said, he would never intentionally hurt Will, even though, in a way he had.

“I mean we’ve been through everything!” Will started. “And I knew something was wrong with you, I could tell, you wouldn’t kiss me, you were sick but I didn’t know it was pregnancy! And you knew about it! Did you tell me? No! You made me think it was my fault you weren’t talking to me!”

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO TELL YOU! How?” Nico asked, moving his hands in dramatic gestures to get a point across.

“I don’t know! But you should have said SOMETHING!”

“I didn’t want to hurt you!” Nico yelled, “If I told you, it would hurt you! I was going to, I really was, I had told Jase, and Reyna, and you were next, but I had iris messaged Reyna, and the little goddess snitched to the gods and they sent down Aphrodite, Will I was going to tell you!”

“That doesn’t justify anything!” Will yelled, and it was the truth, Nico knew that much.

“I know it doesn’t! But I’m trying to tell you what happened!?”

“I don’t want to know what was happening after, before, or during the night, Nico!” Will yelled. “Where are you and your little boyfriend staying now, anyway? Camp Jupiter?”

Nico went silent. If he said Percy’s apartment, Will would get hurt, and he didn’t want that. Yet, the son of Hades didn’t want to lie to the blonde. “With Percy’s mom,”

“Ah, so you’re just running into the arms of another man's arms, are ya?” He said, wiping the tears away.

“No, I’m not like that, you know that, he’s just helpi -”

“Yeah, you’re not like that,” Will said, grabbing the door knob. “You run into other men’s beds, not there arms,” and with that, the blonde son of Apollo walked out of the Hades cabin, leaving a crying Nico.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> !!! IF YOU PREFER WATTPAD, I HAVE NO UPLOADED THIS ONTO THAT APPLICATION, YOU CAN FIND IT UNDER ' EXPECTING || PERCICO ' BY FANDOMTRASH1224 !!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For once, no trigger warnings.

Over the course of the last few weeks, Nico found himself not wanting to eat. Not because he was puking it up, but because of the interaction with his Ex-boyfriend son of Apollo. The last words the blonde had said to him rang in his head over and over again.

“Yeah, you’re not like that, You run into other men’s beds, not there arms,”

Nico now refused to sleep in the bed Percy had so kindly offered him. He said he would take the couch. He pleaded for the son of Poseidon to take his bed back. Nico knew Percy knew that something was wrong. 

Nico made sure to still eat, but he wished he would eat more. The nectar was helping, but now he was always to unsettled to eat. 

Nico finished tying his shoe. It was getting more difficult being four months pregnant with a average sized bump. 

“Neeks, you ready?” Percy called out as Nico slid on a jacket. 

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” He called back. He still kept all off his things in the green-eyed boys room, but refused to sit or lay on the bed. Nico walked out of the room and headed for the door, where the other boy was waiting patiently.

Today they were going to find out the sex of the baby. Kate said she may not be able to tell today, and it may take another month, but from what she could see, they would be able to find out, and that did make Nico extremely excited. 

He didn’t care what sex it was. He sure enough didn’t care if the baby grew up and switched either. He just was so over the moon of the baby being healthy.

Nico was thankful for the fact his baby was healthy, and was also glad, that now, instead of thinking of things, such as if the baby was going to die, he thought of what kind of color scheme they should go with. Then he thought of how he saw Percy in the future, and he wasn’t sure if Percy would be there.

He knew Percy would want to be in the babies life, but did he want to be in Nico’s?

The son of Hades decided to stop thinking of it, and walked down, a hand over his stomach, as they walked out the building into the car Jules-Albert was driving.

Nico knew the mist would hide the pregnancy, but he couldn’t help but wondering what it looked liked to the unknowing eye. 

They walked into the car and sat down, Nico told his driver the instructions and the two boys fell into a comfortable silence. Nico began thinking, he always thought. Every Time there was quiet, and it was tearing him apart. Every thought that went through his head, he hurt himself a little more.

He left Will, and did leave to literally sleep in Percy’s bed. Percy who had been the man Nico had an affair with. The breakup was solely Nico’s fault, and before he had gone back to camp, he hadn’t really given it much thought.

He hadn’t thought of how hurt Will must have been. He didn’t think about it at all, he had bigger issues at the time, his child was in critical condition for gods’ sakes! And, Nico knew Will was mentioning that last line as in when Percy and Nico had slept together, but when Nico was sleeping in the son of Poseidon’s bed, it was hard to take it.

Nico was interrupted out of his thoughts when a warm hand was placed on his shoulder. “Are you okay? Be honest,” came a voice that could have only been Percy’s.

Nico turned around and looked at the green-eyed boy. He knew his eyes were wide,despite living together, the two boys never really talked feelings. It was all ‘why do you help out so much,’ ‘because i’m not lazy,’ ‘but you don’t need to,’ and that usually ends the conversation.

They also watch movies, eat dinner, help each other out, but feelings are barely mentioned. So, Nico being who he is, was going to say he was fine, it’s nothing, but as he looked into the bright green orbs he found himself tongue tied, the only thing wanting to come out being the truth.

“No,” He mumbled. He looked down, finding an amazing interest in his shoes.”No, I’m not okay,”

The son of Hades heard the seat belt unbuckle, and then he felt Percy closer to him. The son of Poseidon decided not to buckle back up, but Jules-Albert was a great driver, so Nico didn’t worry to much over it.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. His voice was gentle and caring. He didn’t try and create to much physical contact, knowing the son of Hades didn’t like it, but Nico wanted nothing more than that right now.

“It’s stupid, I know it is,” He said quietly. “I really know it is, but I can’t stop thinking about it,” It was all a low mumble. Nico didn’t remove his eyes from his shoes, tears threatening to spill out. Nico chose to blame his sudden urge to cry at least once a day on the hormones.

Percy rubbed soothing circles on the younger boys back. “What is it about?”

Nico shook his head, looking up, wiping the tears out of his eyes. “It’s nothing,”

Percy made a noise of disapproval, “Nico, tell me, please, I’m sure it’s not nothing, and I know it’s not stupid,”

“It’s something that happened,” Nico wasn’t sure why he was saying all of this to Percy, the short boy just felt that it was right. “When I went to camp, I had a fight, one with Will, and he just said something,”

“What’d he say?” He said. The son of Hades didn’t miss the angered tone in his voice. 

Nico finally looked up at the older boy. The bright green orbs now looked angry, “It’s nothing, really, just things were said - true things - it’s nothing,”

The son of Poseidon eyed Nico, raising a full brow, imploring for more, Nico knew he didn’t have to answer, didn’t have to say another word, but he did. “He just talked about how, how I, -- I’m sorry -- I can’t,”

Percy understood immediately and wrapped the younger boy in his arms. Nico held back as many tears as possible, but found himself silently sobbing in Percy’s arms. It wasn’t a lot of tears, it was more like three, but laying in the taller boys arms was comforting, and the son of Hades didn’t want to let go.

“You don’t need to tell me,” Percy apologized. “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way,”

“Ah, so you’re just running into the arms of another man's arms, are ya?”

“No, I’m not like that, you know that, he’s just helpi -”

“Yeah, you’re not like that, you run into other men’s beds, not there arms,”

Great, now Nico has ran into his arms and slept in his bed. He’s hitting all the points. He then found himself pulling away. He leaned on Percy’s shoulder still, craving the affection. 

“What do you want them to be?” Nico mumbled, trying to change the subject and quickly wiping away a tear. He wanted to talk baby, it was exciting, and he wanted to know Percy’s opinions, “The sex,”

Percy pondered for a moment, clearly seeing Nico no longer wanted to be coddled and asked what was wrong, “I don’t think I care, honestly, I’m just really glad they’re getting better, and they’re healthy,” He smiled down at the bump on Nico’s stomach. “I see pro’s in both, not many cons, none actually, expect if it’s a girl, I’m going to have to try and keep the guys off of her, because I know she’ll be beautiful, and if she has your nose, that job is going to have to be even harder,”

Nico couldn’t help the blush that appeared on his cheeks at the compliment Percy didn’t even realize he gave. 

“And if it’s a boy, I’ll have to make sure the girls don’t crawl all over him either, I’m not saying he’ll like ‘em back, or if he’ll even like girls, but that won’t stop people from crawling all over them, you know?”

Nico, who was over the moon at the thought the other demigod had put into the sex, nodded. “Yeah, I know,”

He wanted to say the things that came to mind, like how if they have his eyes, or hair, or his nose, because Nico never really liked his nose and didn’t see it, that’s when they should worry, not to mention if they had Percy’s skin, but he didn’t know how. How do you say something like that.

“What do you want it to be?”

“Like you said,” Nico started. “I’m just happy it’s healthy, I’m also happy it’s eating again, because waking up to unmerciful nausea isn’t exactly fun, then knowing what it means, it kind of sucks, so super glad that’s over,”

“Yeah,” Percy smiled. Nico looked back down as they continued to drive, still enjoying the warmth of the other boy. 

~POV SWITCH~

Percy was getting worried for the boy. The last weeks have been rough on him. He was always frowning, and had refused to keep sleeping in Percy’s bed, and that made it hard for Percy to sleep, knowing Nico was laying down on the couch. Percy had known it wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep.

Nico had also gone silent mid-conversation or at meal times. He always had a glassed over look, but still made sure to eat food and drink the nectar afterwards, but that was about it. He ate the bare minimum, and the son of Poseidon knew Nico wasn’t actually wanting to eat, he just knew he had to. 

He also noticed the relief that was lifted off his shoulders when the two wrapped each other in there arms and Nico told the story in confusing broken pieces, but the taller boy assumed it was something Will said about how Nico had moved on to fastly.

And he sure did not miss the small blush that appeared on his cheeks when he complimented him. He acted like it was an accident, but he meant it, and he was glad it had the reaction. He hated seeing the younger boy being so sad. 

He also enjoyed the comfort of the paler boy leaning against his chest. The son of Poseidon wanted to kiss his forehead. He wasn’t sure if it was because he had feelings for the other boy, or if it just felt like the right thing to do, either way, he refrained from doing so. 

The two demigods arrived at the hospital and carefully stepped out of the car. They went to the waiting room and asked about the appointment they had planned. The nurse told the two demigods that Dr. Holt will be here shortly, so Percy and Nico sat down in the chairs. 

Percy craved to be close to the younger male, but found it hard to. He had just gone through with a breakup roughly four months ago. Not only that, Nico had gone through a breakup, and was still fighting with the son of Apollo. Percy knew he shouldn’t want to be close as he wanted to be with the son of Hades, but he couldn’t fight the urge from forming, but he was able to fight from acting on the compulsion.

Moments later, the two boys were summoned into the familiar room. They had planned for the sex of the baby to be announced today, but Katie had said it may be the next time, the next monthly check-up.

“Okay, so, four months now, eh?” She smiled, writing a few things down on her clipboard before going along with the regular steps of these checkups. She took Nico’s blood pressure, before pulling out a familiar gel and asking for him to lift up his shirt.

The son of Poseidon would never stop being in awe at the bump forming on the younger boys stomach. It was crazy to think his baby, their baby, was in there, living it’s little life. Percy never asked to see the bump, he thought it was something weird to ask, so these little moments, these are what he lived for.

She warned Nico of the coldness, and then put a reasonable sized glump of the blue gel and took out a familiar wand. She rubbed the wand on the pale stomach.

“Everything is in good shape, they’re healthy, they are a little smaller than expected for this far along, but barely, they’re 17 weeks it seems, so just a little past four months, and from the look on your faces,” She finished with a smirk. “You want to know the sex?”

The two boys said a sheepish yes in unison. Katie smiled and moved the wand around a little more. Percy wanted to watch the screen with complete concentration, but he also wanted to look at the bump, and was overwhelmed at the euphonious sound of the heartbeat.

“Okay, are you two ready?” She smiled holding the wand in place. Percy’s attention was brought to the screen and he was able to make out a leg, and a head, and the little leg was moving a bit.

“Yeah,” Nico said, turning to look at the son of Poseidon. “I think so?”

Percy smiled at the younger boy, taking his hand, “Yeah,” he squeezed the hand he had just taken ahold of. “We are,”

“Congratulations, you’re having a little girl,” She smiled, this time, Percy took a great notice of how Nico’s face lit up. It was brighter than it had been in months. Percy couldn’t help but compare it to the boyish joy of when he discussed Mythomagic.

Percy also knew he was probably sharing the same shocked expression. He and Nico made eye contact, smiling ear to ear, and Percy couldn’t help but notice how sweet the boys smile was, “We’re having a girl!” Nico smiled, not letting go of Percy’s hand. 

“We’re having a girl!” Percy repeated, still in shock. Dr. Holt cleaned off Nico’s stomach. She then dismissed herself, promising to come back in a moment. The two boys hands were still connected. “Neeks, we’re having a girl! It’s a girl!”

“I know!” Nico said, still smiling, propping himself up. “I can’t believe it! They’re a she! It’s a girl! I’m - I can’t describe it!”

“I know!” Percy said, all smiles, still holding onto the younger boys hand.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3.5k words lezzzzzzgo, the end is really fluffy, please enjoy, sorry if this chapter is a bit everywhere.

Percy and Nico walked out off the hospital, all smiles. Nico still couldn’t comprehend the joy of knowing he was going to be having a baby girl. He was a bit upset at the loss of hand holding, but ignored it. He was having a baby girl.

“It’s going to be a girl!” Nico smiles in disbelief as the two demigods buckled into the car. Percy smiled widely back as he finished buckling, the belt making a click noise. 

“I know!” He smiled. He leaned back and sighed, it was a happy sigh, “It’s going to be amazing, I’m really excited, honestly,”

Nico knew there was a conversation the two demigods had to have. What would the room look like? Where would it be? Did Sally really want a newborn baby in her apartment with her, always crying? Would Percy want Nico to leave when the baby was born? Would they go to the lawyers for custody? There was a lot of questions, questions that could be asked later, Nico decided.

The two boys rambled on about the possibilities, both staying away from the serious topics, not wanted to leave there little bubble of happy. Nico understood this, there weren’t many happy moments in a half-bloods life, so you treasured the ones you could get.

After a short drive, they arrived back at the apartment. “You should tell Sally when she gets home,” Nico recommended as Percy unlocked the door. The son of Poseidon shrugged as the two boys walked in. Nico placed down the bag he brought along as Percy spoke.

“I was thinking we could kind of do it together, maybe like one of those gender-reveal things, but we already know? She always loved those and never really got to do one with me, she was too young, her parents, my grandparents, were too made at her for getting knocked-up so she was a bit alone for it, so, for her grandchild I was thinking maybe we could do something for her, we don’t have to, it was just an idea,”

The son of Hades smiled by the doorway into the kitchen, a hand lazily resting on his growing bump. Percy loved his mom so much it was astonishing. Of course Nico wouldn’t care to do something special to reveal the sex of the baby. Sally deserved it, and, while the pale boy would never admit it, seeing how much Percy wanted it, definitely contributed to how quickly he agreed.

“Why would I mind, it sounds nice,” Nico answered shortly after the son of Poseidon said the idea. Nico walked into the kitchen and began to busy his hands, making a late Lunch for the two. “What would you want to do, the balloon thing is pretty unoriginal now,”

The son of Hades noticed how Percy’s face lit up at the conversation they were having. Then, the green-eyed boy pondered for a moment before speaking up. “We could do a pinata, or a paintball gun that shoots pink or blue,”

Nico hummed in agreement as he pulled out the ingredients for two grilled cheese sandwiches. 

“Or since you like cooking, from what I can see, since you basically do it all the time, we could make a cake with pink or blue inside and the icing could be purple or white, with like question marks on it, or something, I don’t know, I like that one because then we have cake after.

“Of course you would,” Nico laughed lightly. “I like that idea though, and I think white icing, and with purple we could like put ‘Boy or Girl?’ and it would look really cool,” Nico said, getting more excited about the idea by the second.

Percy nodded happily and pulled himself up on the countertops as Nico continued to cook. The son of Hades started thinking of the type of cake he would make. He was honestly excited to be able to see Sally’s face when the cake, or whatever they chose, was pink. Would she be happy? She already had a son, so a granddaughter, especially with Sally being as young as she is, could almost be like having a daughter, even if the child doesn’t live under her roof. The pregnant boy came to the decision that she would at least be a little happy.

Nico would honestly see why the son of Poseidon cared so much for the woman. She was incredible, she was an amazing role model, and just from small stories the short boy had heard, she was always willing to sacrifice her happiness for her son, and he even heard Annabeth tell good stories about her.

The thought of Annabeth sent a wave of guilt over the young boy. When he first heard of the power couple known by the Aphrodite cabin as ‘Percabeth’ splitting up, he thought of how Annabeth must feel, he also thought about why he was still breathing, but mainly how the daughter of Athena felt.

Was she aware of the affair? He tried remembering the time on the camp’s bathroom floor with Percy. He could slightly recall the older boy telling him honestly was the best policy, or something along those lines, so she must know, but did she know it was a guy?

Was she okay? Nico had been spending all his time with Percy, and Percy with him, so how was Annabeth? Nico should have cared more about the feelings of the grey-eyed demigod, but didn’t. He didn’t care, up until now. He truly was a conceited person.

When the sandwiches were done, Nico handed one to Percy, then grabbed one for himself and made his way on the counter next to the son of Poseidon. He carefully got up, then proceeded to pull apart the sandwich into pieces, putting the pieces in his mouth. It was a prime example of what some mothers would call ‘playing with your food’.

“I could make the cake for after dinner,” Nico commented as the two ate in a comfortable silence. “As long as you have pink food coloring,”

“I know we have blue,” Percy laughed, placing his food down and hoping of the counter. The tall teen walked over to a cabinet and started searching through it. Nico watched him as he chewed a bit of his food slowly.

“Yes, we have blue, green, red, yellow, and orange, we don’t have pink, but I think red would do fine,” He said, pulling out the food dye. He placed it on the counter before walking back over to Nico, reclaiming his spot and eating his food.

“It’ll work,” The son of Hades said, finally finishing his first bite. He wasn’t hungry, he felt sick, but he knew he had to or his daughter would go right back where she was in the early months of his pregnancy, deathly ill. “I’m honestly excited to see how she’ll react,”

Percy smiled brightly. “Me too,” He sighed. Nico could tell the green-eyed boy wanted to say more, but the two demigods were both bad with emotions, and Nico knew Percy wanted to say something that would involve to much emotion.

The two boys continued to eat, and when Nico managed to eat three pieces of his sandwich, he took a swig of nectar before throwing the rest of his food in the trash can. Percy had finished his food and sat down on the couch. Nico joined him and made sure to keep a small distance from each other on the couch.

~POV SWITCH~

It was almost dinner now and Sally was cooking some pasta, Percy wasn’t the best a remembering names, but if he asked Nico, he’d probably know in a heartbeat. He was good with food, he was also good at baking, and just cooking.

The son of Hades was currently frosting the cake, Sally was aware that it would reveal the sex of her grandchild, and was smiling brightly. Percy had had a few heart to hearts with his mother sense he was living back home again.

Sally was mostly excited, and was proud of him for staying. She said it like staying was the less appealing option, but Percy had found leaving the harder option. He had taken it upon himself to clear the table for dinner. He would periodically walk into the kitchen to bring things in, and the environment was - weird.

Sally cared for Nico, and Nico cared for Sally, but there was a - what’s the word - a bad vibe. Nico felt bad because he blamed himself for the son of Poseidon breaking up with Annabeth, and Sally felt bad because she made him feel bad. It was just a strange feeling.

When the table was cleared, which only took moments, Percy went to look at the cake the son of Hades had made. Percy had heard a rumor that Italian’s had naturally beautiful penmanship, but gods, this was a whole new level.

The cake was two stories, Percy warned the paler boy that was way too much cake, but Nico said it would look better, and having lack of cooking knowledge, the son of Poseidon decided to let Nico win the little argument.

The frosting was white, and Nico had mixed red and blue to get a purple accent color, he used this icing to put a question mark on the top of the smaller, higher layer, and on the bottom layer, i close to perfect writing, he had ‘Boy or Girl?’ Percy smiled and made a hum of excitement, which startled the son of Hades and made a light blush appear on his cheeks. 

Paul arrived home minutes later. Paul and Nico got along way better than Nico and Sally. The son of Poseidon couldn’t figure out why. At first glance, the two seemed like polar opposites, but in closer inspection, they had so much in common it was scary.

The two both liked history, like weirdly obsessed, they both liked musicals, Paul knew way too much about Italy and its history, the two just had so much in common. Nico smiled and Paul asked him what was happening. The short boy replied with something along the lines of ‘gender reveal cake’ and Paul hummed in approval.

Percy’s step dad then planted a kiss on Sally’s cheek, before walking into their shared room. The green-eyed boy felt a rush of - pain?- he wanted that, he wanted to walk over to Nico and just kiss him. He knew they weren’t married like the two adults, and he knew Sally and Paul had WAY different conditions, but that didn’t stop the demigod from wanting - longing - to do those small gestures to the son of Hades, that was now bringing the cake to the table, covering it up.

A while later, the pasta-whatever was done and everyone sat down at the table. It was good, and Nico ate as much as he could. He always felt as if when Sally made it, he had to eat all of it, but Percy assured him that his mother understood. 

After dinner, Nico made sure to take a small shot-sized cup of Nectar. The nectar was really helping with puking after eating, but the pregnant boy still got the occasional morning sickness, but at least now he had something to retch.

When everyone was ready, the two demigods insisted that Sally cut the cake, mainly because the two boys already knew the sex, and this entire chabang was for the grandmother.

Percy grabbed a knife and spun in around in his fingers, causing the other three to panic. Percy just laughed and carefully handed his mom the knife. The son of Poseidon would play with knives until it came to handing them to people he loved. Then they were dangerous deadly weapons.

“I swear, you are going to get yourself hurt if you keep being stupid,” Sally said, carefully accepting the knife. 

“I’ve fought two wars, i’ll be fine,”

“Famous last words,” Sally mumbled, but ended it with a smile.

Percy rolled his eyes playfully. “Just cut the cake,” He said, jumping over closer to the son of Hades.

Sally rolled her eyes back, but either way, cut the cake, she had her eyes closed, so everyone else saw the pink before she did. Paul walked over and hugged got between the two demigods, then gave them each a one arm hug.

Sally parted one of her closed eyes just a bit and saw the pink middle before jumping up and walking over to join the rest. She wrapped Percy in a hug, before walking over to Nico and giving him a similar hug.

The entire situation was warming the son of Poseidon’s heart.

Everyone ate there cake, then Nico insisted to help Sally. The poor boy was worried about not contributing enough, but if anything, he was helping to much, and Sally sent him away, laughing how her son could take a few notes. Percy played hurt and Sally just laughed.

Roughly three hours later, Percy grabbed two pieces of cake that was left over and found Nico on the fire escape, wrapped in one of Percy’s blankets, looking at the sky, the cold wind blowing his hair back. The pale boy was sitting on a chair that was out there. 

Percy walked out and took a seat next to the brown-eyed boy. He handed him a piece of the pink cake and smiled. Nico ate some of it, and Percy didn’t expect him to eat much.

“It’s the one thing I don’t like about New York,” Percy said as he looked up, wishing he had brought a blanket as the cold wind brough goosebumps to his skin. “You can never see the stars,”

Nico hummed in agreement. “Yeah, night time is probably what I miss about Italy the most,” 

The son of Poseidon sighed and stopped looking at the sky and his attention was brought to the other boy. While there was no starlight, there was light coming from buildings and the cars below, this light made the son of Hades’ pale face stick out.

Percy saw a sparkle in the round, brown eyes, and couldn’t help but smile lightly as he looked away. “I can tell my mom’s really excited about it being a girl,”

Nico smiled before speaking. “Yeah, I’m glad, she’s so sweet,”

“And she doesn’t hate you,” The green-eyed boy added. Nico turned his head to look at the tanner teen.

“W-What? I didn’t think that,”

“Mhm, sure,’

“What?” Nico laughed lightly.

“You think she doesn’t like you, I can tell,” Percy paused. “But, she doesn’t hate you, she mainly just feels bad for making you feel bad,” 

Nico sighed. “It’s just awkward, I guess,”

Percy smiled. “You think everything is awkward,”

The son of Hades smiled chuckling a bit, “Yeah, I do,” There was a silence that Percy took upon himself to break.

“What colors should we do everything?”

Nico thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” He finally said, looking at the sky still.

Feelings. Percy was about to bring up feelings. He hated talking about serious things. Being a demigod, he knew to cherish things as much as you can, and as beautiful as everything was, there were questions that needed to be asked, things that needed to be discussed, and decisions to be made.

“What do we do once she’s born? I don’t think camp would be safe, and I don’t want to be that far away from either of you,”

Percy didn’t miss the blush that tinted the son of Hades pale face. “I was thinking about that,” He began. “I know your mother probably doesn’t want a crying baby around. She still has one of those,” He teased.

It took the green-eyed boy a second to get it, but when he did, he sarcastically. “Ha. Ha. Very funny,”

“I know,” Nico said with a small smile. “But yeah, I was thinking of it earlier. Camp isn’t a good option, not even because of the people, but because she’ll be a baby in a camp full of weapons. Then, I thought of Hazel, who I still need to tell, shit, whatever, and Frank and her plan on staying at Camp Jupiter, so then I was thinking that we - unless you didn’t want to go - but that we could stay there, like in the city for the ‘retired’ as they say demigods, though I don’t think we ever truly get to retire from this,” He said with a laugh at the end.

Percy smiled before getting serious again. “Okay, once again, I want to go, okay, I want to be here, you don’t need to think ‘unless he doesn’t want to go’ because I assure you, I will always want to go,”

Nico mumbled a sheepish apology.

“Don’t apologize, it’s fine, but Camp Jupiter sounds nice. I could still help Jase with the monuments, you could do your duties as Ambassador of Pluto,”

“That title doesn’t require much,” Nico laughed, still looking at the sky.

“Whatever, you get it,” The taller boy laughed. “I like New Rome,”

Nico smiled. “I like blue for her room though. Not just blues, but like light purples and maybe some yellow. Pastel though,”

“Put a lot of thought into this?” The son of Poseidon laughed. 

“Shut up,” Nico joked, taking a small bite of the cake. 

“It sounds nice though,” Percy said. “Especially the blue,”

Nico nodded. “I thought you would,”

“So,” Feelings. Percy, just say what you want to say, you’re a parent now, you need to know this, “Would we really get an apartment in New Rome? I’m sure they would have a spot for us,”

“I think we should - but if you don’t want to -”

“I want to,” Percy laughed but reassured Nico.

“Well then, yeah. . .” Nico smiled.

“I’ll talk to Reyna later about it, then we can decide when to move. I think, personally, we should move before the babies born,” Percy said, putting down his finished cake.

“Yeah,” Nico agreed. “Have you thought of any names?”

Percy smiled before shaking his head. “Not really, no,” He couldn’t help but to keep smiling. “Have you?”

Nico shrugged. “A little bit,” He sighed, placing a hand on his stomach and rubbing it. “I thought of Bianca, but that felt weird to me,”

“Why?” Percy asked. He would be more than happy to name his daughter Bianca. It told a story of what they had been through.

“I feel like it’d be replacing her,” he paused for a moment. “I know it’s stupid, but I don’t know,”

Percy smiled weakly. “No,” He placed a hand on the other boys shoulder. “I get it,”

Nico gave a weak smile. He then placed a hand on the one that Percy rested on his shoulder. “Feel this,” He smiled.

Percy was confused for a moment, but allowed the son of Hades to guide his hand down to his stomach.

“It started at dinner, I thought it was something bad, but it was actually really good, I figure anyway,” Nico said the whole thing calmly with a bright closed smile on his face. Percy could tell the pregnancy was making him more tired than he was usually, due to how just tired the younger boy had been acting.

Percy’s hand was resting on the bump, Nico’s over his. The son of Poseidon had never really felt the bump before and was having a moment, just due to the fact he was actually, almost, touching his daughter, but then he felt a weird jolt and he freaked out, but didn’t move his hand.

“What was that?!” He asked, his voice low, he was scared it was something bad.

Nico laughed lightly. “That was my reaction,” He moved Percy’s hand over a bit and he felt the strange jolt again. “But it’s just her kicking,” the pale boy said with a brighter smile, Percy looked up at him, and Nico looked back. 

Percy hated how he felt the urge to leap up and plant a kiss on the light pink lips belonging to the son of Hades, but he refrained and quickly wiped a tear of joy that had escaped before looking back at the son of Hades, who also had tears gathering in his eyes.

“I know,” He smiled. “It’s amazing,”

“It’s more than amazing,” percy said, before looking at the bump, and going back to Nico. “What does it feel like?”

Nico laughed a bit. “Weird,” He said giggling. “But also really nice, like comforting,”

Then, the two boys stayed like that for awhile, Nico’s hand resting on top of Percy’s, slightly larger one, moving it around where the kicks were happening more frequently, each little bump making Percy’s smile grow.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small mentions of Abortion clashing with Religious beliefs. I know this is a 'triggering' subject for some, and I would never judge you for your beliefs or religion, thank you :)

It’s been around a week now and the two male demigods were packed up and getting ready to head for Camp Jupiter. They were currently hugging Sally and Paul goodbye. Nico was sad to part with the son of Poseidon’s family, but he really wanted to start the nursery and other things.

Reyna had scored the two a really nice house. It only had two bedrooms, but it was nicely decorated, and she made sure there was nothing in the second room, Nico made sure of it. He really wanted to decorate the babies room.

Nico would be lying if he didn’t admit to the increasing amount of pain he was in sometimes. It would be random. They weren’t like contractions, he knew that much, it was just sometimes the pain got a little worse and more noticable. He hid it pretty well, but if he stood to long, his feet word become sore and jolts of pain would shoot through him. If he sat down for to long, he got a horrible feeling in his back. Even if he laid in the same position for to long, his body would just hurt.

So, to say he was excited for the drive to New Rome would be a gigantic lie. He knew it would be pain, but he just expected it. Jason was going along with them since he needed to go to New Rome anyway. He was just going to fly, but he volunteered to help them. He knew Nico, ratheer the son of Hades knew it himself, wouldn’t want to drive, and Percy would eventually get tired, so it was good to have enough drivers.

Jason was currently packing everything away in the car as the two other demigods finished their goodbyes. Sally kissed Nico’s cheek, and he went into the back of the car. He didn’t want to sit in the front, he could easily get motion sickness. He didn’t want to puke anymore than he already did.

Nico walked into the car and checked in his backpack. He made sure he had the nectar and a bag of goldfish. 

Moments later, Percy climbed into the drivers side, he would start driving first. The car was cranked and Nico pulled out a sketchpad and began to draw a tree. It was just what came to mind. It was 4AM and now one wanted to really conversate. 

Percy had given up caffeine. He did it for Nico. He said if Nico had to, Percy would try. It wasn’t only coffee. If Nico couldn’t have it, Percy refused it, the son of Hades told the other boy he was being stupid and ‘for the love of the gods, drink the damn coffee,’

Yet, it was the same response. “Nope,”

Nico silently scoffed at the thought, and watched the tired boy drive. The three children of the big three crossed multiple gas stations and buildings and the son of Hades had given up drawing and the three were all starting conversations. It was a long drive to Camp Jupiter, and there was no point in staying silent.

“And then, wabam, I just fucking fell, and it hurt like a bitch, It’s going to scar,” Jason says, finishing the story about the time he had fallen off the climbing wall. He showed the cut and it was going to scar. “I mean, I know I can fly, but I had just forgotten at the moment, and now I have yet another scar,”

Nico let out a small laugh. He was very uncomfortable and wanted nothing more than to lay down, or change his position in the car, but he hated to draw attention to his pregnancy. So instead, he sat a little awkwardly in the back of the car, hoping his bump wasn’t as noticeable as possible.

His bump was very annoying and strange. When it was a small little bump on his tummy, it was wonderful, but now, he hated it. It was the elephant in the room. Nico had a bump that anyone who could see through the mist could see from a mile away. 

Conversation varied until around 12. It was hours of non-stop driving for Percy, and now everyone was getting hungry. Everyone was debating what to eat. The son of Hades knew what he wanted. He wanted McDonalds. Though, he refused to say it because then the other two would also agree, even if they didn’t want it, Nico didn’t want to play the pregnancy card.

In the end, they actually did decide McDonalds which Nico was elated about. He did feel as if the other two knew he secretly wanted it, but he wasn’t going to complain. He just smiled to himself in the back of the car.

When they all got out, they ordered their food. Nico wanted nothing more than to get a Dr. Pepper, but he didn’t know how the caffeine would affect the baby. It was probably fine, but the son of Hades always worried to much and went with a lemonade.

The son of Hades ordered his food, a number nine, and then took a seat after the other two had ordered. They sat down in the booth and had random conversations. The shortest boy kept quiet most the time while he ate. He felt awkward in the restaurant. What if someone saw through the mist, or was a demigod, or what did mortal’s see him as?

Percy noticed them and elbowed him lightly, Nico just smiled and took a bite of his fry. The conversation continued and the son of Hades laughed and listened along. He ate his food, then pulled out a small bottle of Nectar and took a sip. It tasted like food his mother used to make. He couldn’t seem to place what it was, but he knew she made it.

After lunch, Percy volunteered to drive again, and Nico was in less pain now that he was able to have walked around a bit, but as soon as he sat down the familiar feeling happened again. It was sore, and the son of Hades couldn’t pinpoint the exact spot, it just hurt.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the pains would get worse. The gods had warned him he would WANT to abort the baby after a while, but this wasn’t the pain they were talking about, right? Yeah, it wasn’t comfortable, it was really shitty actually, but it wasn’t enough pain to abort his daughter.

He would never look down on anyone who chose abortion. It wasn’t his religion that stopped him, it wasn’t him thinking it was wrong, it’s just, he didn’t want to abort his child. He understood why people did it. He didn’t mind it, but he didn’t want it, no matter what, so if this was the pain the gods were talking about, they clearly hadn’t thought of the fact he’d been through Tartarus and back.

The three demigods drove for a few more hours. It was hot, and Nico wasn’t sure where they were. He just knew they had another 18 hours. . .at least. (These numbers could be wrong. I was so lazy to find out. -L)

Awhile later, Nico felt a jolt of pain surge through his body. He didn’t want to bring to much attention to himself, so when it happened, the son of Hades took in a quick breath and prayed to the gods the other two demigods didn’t hear. They didn’t.

The pain was indescribable. It was like being stabbed in the back, literally. It was around the small of his back, but more to the left and it was one of the worst pains he;d ever experience. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it was painful.

He took a silent breath and cleared his head. Women go through this so much more, and it probably hurts just the same, he was just being a baby. He continued to sit in silence, laughing occasionally at the stories being told, as the pain came and went.

For dinner they ate at some diner. It was called Wayne’s and had really nice burgers. Nico got another Lemonade and forced the other two get something with Caffeine since Nico wasn’t driving, and they were. The other two boys got Dr. Pepper and a Coke.

After the meal, Jason forced Percy to let him drive, so the son of Poseidon took a seat in the passenger side. 

Nico knew he shouldn’t have been as tired as he was, but gods, all he wanted to do was to fall asleep. He made an effort to stay awake, and he felt a few more jolts of pain shoot through his body, each one making him more sore, resulting in the pain to be more extreme. 

Percy was the one who took notice of this as the son of Hades winced after a wave of the unfamiliar feeling.

“Neeks?” He began questioning. “Are you okay? Is something wrong,”

Nico blushed lightly at the concern in the others voice, but quickly hid the pigment to his usually pale cheeks. “I don’t - uh - think so,” Nico stuttered a bit, adjusting himself, hoping for a more comfortable position. “I think it’s normal, but I - um - I wouldn’t really know,” He laughed dryly.

Percy unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed over the center-console, carefully sitting himself next to the son of Hades. This resulting in a few “Dude, what the fuck”’s from Jason as he almost swerved over to the other lane.

“You sure?” Percy asked, rebuckling himself. The son of Hades just smiled, but then another pain shot through his body, and he winced lightly. “I think you’re lying,” Percy states.

“No shit, Sherlock,” Nico laughs. Percy rolls his eyes, but his face goes back to concern quickly.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” Nico begins. “It’s like a wave of pain, like a jolting feeling, like being stabbed, I guess, and I can’t help but wonder if these are the pains the gods were talking about, and if they are, I think I’ll be able to handle them,” Nico said, taking a breath in the middle of his rant, thankful Jason wasn’t engaging in the conversation to much. “But, what if it gets worse? I would never give her up, but like - I don’t know, but if women go through this, I don’t see how the female gods can keep doing this over the thousands of hundreds of years, and then not even see their children.

“I mean, the main thing that makes these pains okay is the fact we’ll have a baby after this, that’s going to be fucking dope, but they don’t even care, whatever - I have no clue what these pains are, but they keep hurting the more they happen, like it gets really sore,” Nico finishes, taking another deep breath. 

He noticed he would rant a lot with Percy. It wasn’t really rants, it was long ass rambles about the most random shit. The problem could be world hunger, and then it would be about the different types of water.

Percy took his hand and placed it on Nico’s cheek. It was effective in getting the son of Hades to clear his thoughts. Percy smiled weakly before talking. “You’re stronger than I am, Nico, I know you are, I wouldn’t be able to do this, and I also know, you’re going to excel at this. I know you can, and having the baby will be, as you put it, fucking dope,” The son of Poseidon finished with a laugh. 

“Yeah?” Nico laughed, his voice wavering, but he was able to contain his tears. He was glad Percy was here, grounding him. He knew it was gross how sappy it was. But, it did help, having someone cradle his face, telling him that it would be alright.

“Yeah,” Percy confirmed. “You’ve already done so much for her, for me, even, and I honestly can’t see how you could do any better for us,”

Nico just smiled and leaned his head into Percy’s tan hand, enjoying the warmth. He had been craving physical contact. He would never ask anyone for it, it was so needy, so when he got it, he would enjoy it. He did feel bad for Percy after a moment and removed his hand from his pale cheek.

Nico kept holding onto the hand in his those, he looked down at them, his pale fingers rubbing the tan palm. The son of Hades kept his eyes glued to the hand, tracing circles on Percy’s hand. “T-Thank you,” The younger boy muttered, cradling Percy’s one hand in both of his own.

“Any time, Cazzo,”

The son of Hades let out a snort. “Cazzo? Was that your attempt at Italian?”

Percy blushed. “I googled it,” He laughed. 

“It’s pronounced Cazto, give or take, not Cazzo,” Nico laughed, looking back up at Percy.

“Well,” Percy began, “The little google person on my mom’s computer couldn’t pronounce it correctly then,” He laughed, putting and arm around Nico. It was getting late and Nico happy laid into the son of Poseidon.

“Why were you googling ‘Italian Curse Words,’?” Nico laughed. Looking straight ahead, not at Percy, “Like shouldn’t you look at common phrases?”

Percy let out a snort. “I thought I would use that more often than common phrases,”

While Nico acted as if it wasn’t a big deal, the son of Hades was over the moon the Percy had googled Italian to know about his native language.

~Small Time Skip; POV Switch~

Nico was slowly drifting asleep, Percy could tell. He was talking less, and when he did speak they were small little mumbles. The words ‘Perfectly Adorable,’ kept coming into Percy’s head.

The son of Poseidon knew what this meant. It meant he had tripped down the damn grand canyon for this boy, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to climb out. He continued to play with the son of Hades’ hair.

He knew he was asleep now since Percy asked him a question about John Laurens and he didn’t get a response. “Be careful,” Jason warned. “I see how you look at him, I don’t want you to get hurt,”

Percy made a noise, like a snort, but humorless. “I don’t exactly want him to get hurt either, that’s why I’m - why I’m not - I don’t know, pushing us into a relationship, I mean, I don’t know, yeah there is a baby, yeah that’s a factor, but that’s not why I want to be with him, I just, genuinely lo - like him,” Percy said, looking down at the pale skin belonging to the son of Hades.

Percy noticed, for not the first time, the small little freckles he had, Jason began to speak again. “I don’t think the feelings are one-sided,”

“No, they are,” Percy said. “The split between Annabeth and I, it was clean, we still talk, Nico and Solace, way messier, he couldn’t have feelings for me yet,”

“Hmph,” Was all Jason said, his eyes straight forward on the road.

The son of Poseidon continued to look down at the other boy. His stomach jolting randomly. Percy knew their baby girl was kicking. She always did at night, Nico always woke up at night and sat down next to Percy on the couch when it happened. Usually eating something along the lines of the cupcake goldfish, they seemed to be his favorite.

Percy placed a hand on Nico’s bump, and moments later he did feel a kick, and he smiled lightly. He placed a peck on the son of Hades’ head before closing his eyes lightly drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was shit.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They make it to New Rome!

Nico woke up laying on top of Percy Jackson, who was currently asleep next to him. Nico blinked his large brown eyes a few times, but didn’t move away from the son of Poseidon. He was thoroughly enjoying the warmth, and was also enjoying the feeling of waking up next to the boy.

The son of Hades snuggled closer to said boy, letting out a small sigh of comfort. He nuzzled his head into the tan boy’s shoulder, wrapping his arm around him lightly. The discomfort was happening again, either because of the pregnancy, or because he had just slept in the backseat of a car. He thought it was probably both.

After a few more moments, he noticed how the car wasn’t moving. He had just assumed Jason had gotten to tired and was pulled over into a parking lot. Jason was always extra-cautious when driving, so it wouldn’t surprise the son of Hades. Jason Grace was a mom friend.

Nico could have fallen asleep like this again, cuddled next to Percy, the smell of the ocean in his nose, but he soon felt the other boy move, and got increasingly nervous. “G’Morning,” Percy mumbled into the son of Hades’ hair. The simple sentence made him feel better.

“Mornin’,” Nico mumbled back, making no effort to remove himself from the other boy. Nico felt Percy nuzzle his nose into his dark hair, and found it oddly comforting.

“Did you sleep well?” Percy asked, but do to his tired state it came out more as “didyoong sleemp well?”

Nico, if possible, tried to get closer to Percy. He told himself it was just for warmth, since the car was a bit cold. “Mhm, you?” He said, his words becoming muffled in Percy’s shirt.

“Mhm, for it being the back of the car ‘n all,” He said, laughing at the end. Nico let out a small chuckle, still making no effort to get away from the son of Poseidon. Nico hated himself for wanting to be this close to the boy, but he was like a drug, and Nico was so fucking addicted.

Moments later, the door from the car opened and Jason’s voice boomed. “Morning, sleepy heads!” He smiled. Nico heard his seatbelt buckle and slowly sat up, not too willingly.

“Tone it down a bit, eh?” He said, sitting up and looking down at the son of Poseidon. He was still laying down, but his green eyes were slightly opened, his arm still lazily thrown around Nico. The son of Hades couldn’t imagine anyone more beautiful just waking up.

“Sorry, I pulled over after an hour of driving because I almost closed my eyes, but,” He said, then Nico heard the ruffling of a bag, but his eyes were still smiling down at Percy. “I woke up before you two, and decided to drive another hour to this McDonalds, seriously, you two sleep too much, but here,” He smiled, handing a bag of food to the two boys in the back. “Eat,” He said, cranking the car a bit.

“Um, thanks?” Nico said, still a bit sluggish from just waking up. He looked in the bag and noticed two pancake, or hotcake, platters. He pulled one out, putting it in his lap before nudging Percy with the bag. 

The son of Poseidon opened his eyes a little wider and took in the sight before smiling. “Yeah,” He said sitting up slightly, removing his arm from Nico’s waist. “Thanks,”

“No problem, and I’ll be good for driving for the next bit, I got almost as much sleep as you two, but you guys sleep to much anyway,”

Nico and Percy both scoffed at this, but decided not to make any comments, just happily eating their pancakes. Nico tried to hide the pain that kept accruing from Percy but the son of Poseidon did notice, and sent him a silent question with his eyes, that Nico just waved off.

After the little meal, Nico took a swig of Nectar which still tasted the same as it always did, and buckled up. He also forced Percy to do the same. The son of Poseidon took car safety very seriously. It was the only warning he ever truly listened to. 

They drove for what felt like hours before they went to a pizza place for lunch, then Percy took a shift at driving. Nico felt bad for not driving, but they insisted it was fine, and while they knew he didn’t want to use the pregnancy card, they were accepting it.

To that, the son of Hades rolled his eyes, but chose to let them win, because he really didn’t want to drive. Sitting in the car for as long as they had been, along with the regular pains, it was literally killing him. 

It was another ten hours before they arrived in California. When Nico saw the sign, he let out a sigh of relief. He had been twisting and turning in the back of the car for the last few hours. It was absolute torture.

For the next hour, though, the son of Hades thought about his new house. His new house with Percy Jackson. He tried to get three rooms, but Reyna had said how there was no such home available. Nico felt bad, because he knew, one, Percy probably didn’t want to sleep in the same bed as him, and then secondly, wouldn’t want Nico to have to sleep on the couch.

That was just the way Percy has been, and the way Percy was. He was always doing things for Nico in the past five months, and Nico was beyond grateful for that.

The son of Hades, being himself, starting thinking of what the medics at New Rome would be like. He knew he wouldn’t be able to be with Dr. Holt anymore considering he didn’t want to drive across the United States to get a ultrasound. 

The short boy was positive the medics and campers at Camp Jupiter could handle it, but it was still scary not knowing the people that would be responsible for making sure Nico knew what to do.

As his mind continued to wonder, he thought of Hazel’s reaction. He had told her once before he left. She seemed pretty okay with it. She was upset that he had cheated on the son of Apollo, and was more shocked than upset that it was Percy’s baby.

She said that she thought he was over him, which the pale boy replied ‘I thought I was too’. Besides that, Hazel seemed ready to become an Aunt, and was prepared to be the best one possible.

Then, Nico thought of what it would be like to go Nursery furniture shopping with Percy would be like, and that brought along a smile, accompanied with a blush.

Finally, the three demigods arrived. Jason parked outside the camo, hoping the car wouldn’t be in anyone’s way, before helping the two soon-to-be dads with their things so there would be no need for another trip.

The three had hands full of bags and carried them around New Rome, asking for directions. Nico would never be able to get over how beautiful this place was. The pillars and buildings were perfect, people were living peacefully. No one really started, just took second glances, at Nico, and the son of Hades appreciated that. He was sure the rumor had gone around.

Eventually they found the road they would be living in, and Nico smiled at all the family friendly houses. Kids running in the yards, one house even had a dog. It was domestic and Nico loved every bit of it. He shook the thoughts out of his head and blamed it on the cursed hormones.

After a bit more walking, the children of The Big Three managed to find the house. It was at the end of a culdasac (A/N:I have no clue how to spell this, autocorrect won’t help me), the walls brown brick with white pillars at the corners of a nicely sized porch. There was a sidewalk leading up to the door. Bushes were already trimmed, pink flowers growing in neat little rows. The outside of the house was so beautiful, and Nico knew the inside would be just as, if not more.

Nico pulled out the key Reyna had gifted him through the mail, and unlocked the door. The son of Hades dropped the bags by the door, soon followed by the two taller boys, and gaped at the beauty of the home. When you first walked in, there was a hallway., it had dark wood floor, then walking a bit, you would see an opening to a living room.

There was a blue couch with a large TV, a fireplace, and a black rug, painting hung randomly on the walls. Then, connected to the living room was a dining room and kitchen, white marble countertops, blue rugs by the sink, and very warm family table. Then, on the other side of the hall connected to another hall, which held the bathroom, a simple bathroom with an amazing shower/bath.

There was a room, it was empty, the floors being the same wood as the rest of the house, and the walls white. It was the nursery. Nico smiled and looked around the empty room. There was a closet, he believed it was called a winter-summer closet. There was a two shelves for items.

This was where their daughter would be raised. The son of Hades couldn’t help smiling, looking over to the son of Poseidon, who was wearing a similar expression.

After more observing, everyone walked out, heading down to the last room in the hall (besides a hall closet, but that could be looked at later). This room was definitely the master bedroom. It had a blue, king sized bed, the pillows white, the fuzzy rug black. It really captured the two demigods, and it made Nico blush.

Next, he checked out the master bathroom, it was even better than the hall. It had a gigantic tub, well not gigantic, but pretty big, and a shower with a glass separator instead of a curtain. There was his and her sinks, but it would definitely be used as his and his in this home.

After the small little observation of the house, Jason excused himself, saying he had work with Reyna and Annabeth to do, and left the two demigods alone in the - no - their house. 

“It’s, honestly, amazing, I can’t think of another word to describe it,” Percy gawked at the walls, so cleanly painted. Nico nodded his head in agreement as he walked down the hallway. He grabbed the bags of his belongings, Percy doing the same.

“I know, it’s like - perfect,” ‘like you’ the son of Hades added mentally as he walked back to the bedroom. He walked into one of the closets, there was two, and began unpacking his things into the drawers, hanging shirts in the closet, putting his shoes in the shoe rack.

“Like, it even smells nice,” Percy added, walking into his closet. “Not here again,” He mumbled.

Nico let out a snort at the horrible pun, placing his now empty bags on a shelf in his closet. “That was a horrible joke,”

“I know,” Percy smirked, hanging up a blue swim hoodie. “Horrible jokes are my specialty,”

Nico let out another laugh. “I can see,”

The two demigods finished unpacking, putting away their belongings, but the kitchen, and other rooms, were already stocked. Reyna tried her best to make it as much as them as possible, and in Nico’s opinion, she had succeeded.

~POV Switch~

“This place is seriously amazing, I really like the color scheme, you know?” Percy laughed, looking around at all the deep blue furniture and the ocean paintings.

Nico let out a small snort and began to look through the pantry and fridge. “Look, there’s food, what do you want to eat?”

Percy walked over to the kitchen and leaned on the newly cleaned countertops. “Do you enjoy cooking? Like you do it, all the time, that’s rarely an exaggeration, you cook like, all the time,”

“That’s the thing about life, Perce, you got to cook to eat, eat to live, if you truly think about it, humans are very strange. They do the same things over ‘n over, and then you do ‘em again, it’s a continuous cycle, really,”

Percy looked at the son of Hades skeptically. “You...wanna talk about it?”

The boy in question just laughed a bit. “Nah, just constant existential thoughts,”

 

“Okay?” Percy said, coming out as more of a question.”Mac and Cheese would be nice, though,” He smiled as the son of Hades pulled out random ingredients Percy saw no significance with. 

Percy continued walking around and taking in the amazing scent of ‘new house’ soon followed by the smell of Mac and Cheese. 

Nico called for him, a bowl of Mac ready. Percy took a seat next to the boy. “Thank you,” He smiled, putting the cheesy goodness in his mouth and chewing. Nico rolled his eyes, a small blush creeping up his neck. 

The son of Poseidon had always seen Nico as a bit . . . cold hearted, but in reality, he was a soft little nugget. Granted, this soft little nugget could kill anything and everyone who tempted him, but, he was a soft lil’ thing that would blush easily.

The green-eyed boy thoroughly enjoyed making the younger blush, and he did it anytime Percy complimented him in anyway. This made Percy only want to compliment him more. “I mean, you’re really good at cooking,” 

He blushed. “No I’m not - I can - I’m not,”

Percy smiled before taking another bite. “I seriously don’t think I have had better Mac and Cheese in my life,” 

The son of Hades blushed even more. “It’s no - It’s not really t-that good, I t-think you’re over playing it just a bit,” he stuttered out.

Percy chose to leave him alone and just laughed a bit. “Mkay, sure,” He teased slightly, looking out the window. The sun was setting and Percy was tired from sleeping restlessly in a car all night.

The two boys finished eating, discussing when to go shopping for the nursery. They didn’t want to truly do it in New Rome since the mist didn’t work and Nico was always aware of the eyes that followed him, especially as his bump got larger as their child grow.

“We can go out in California tomorrow, just explore it ‘n everything,” Percy smiled, taking his bowl, along with Nico’s empty one, and washing them in the sink. Nico walked over to the Nectar resting in the fridge, pouring a shot-sized portion of the liquid, and drinking it.

“Yeah, sounds nice,” Nico smiled, putting the carton-like container of Nectar back in the fridge.

Percy plopped down on the couch, the son of Hades following after him. He pulled a black blanket over them, and Percy grabbed the remote. Everything was so new and shiny, Percy felt a bit out of place, though this was their new home, it felt like someone else’s. He knew that feeling would go away soon, but it was still strange. He had spent the last week with his mom, now he was somewhere different. A good different, but different.

They flipped through the channels, then watched some strange documentary. Usually Percy never actually cared for the information displayed in the programmes, but no matter what, they were always strangely intriguing.

Nico got up towards the end, “It’s getting late, I’m going to take a shower,” He said, lifting himself up off the couch. 

“You going to go to sleep afterwards?” Percy asked, watching as the short boy stood up.

The son of Hades shrugged. 

Percy smiled. “Well, in case, good night,”

Percy easily saw the blush that appeared on the others cheeks, even in the dimly lit room. 

“G-Goodnight,” Nico stuttered before waving awkwardly and walking away. Percy continued watching the show for a few more minutes before drifting off to sleep on the, more comfortable than his mom’’s, couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work can also be found on Wattpad.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Mentions of Abortion (It's a very common one in this fic, isn't it?)

Nico finished taking his shower, brushed his teeth, got dressed in some black socks, light grey joggers and a black T shirt, it was loose, but still displayed off the baby bump very well. Nico walked past a mirror and smiled. He rubbed the bump, lifting up his shirt.

“I love you,” He whispered before smiling lightly and walking into the new bedroom. He flicked on the lights and then jumped at the sight in front of him.

“For the love of Hades,” He mumbled, taking in the sight. It was Apollo, laying on the bed, laying down casually. “What are you doing here?” He asked snappily.

“That’s no way to speak to a god,”

“I never gave a shit about you, or the others, what do you want?” Nico asked, not realizing the protective hand he placed over his bump. 

“The others want to have a discussion with you,” Apollo said, standing up off the bed, walking next to Nico. “And they’re waiting,” He smirked, tapping his wrist where a watch would be if he had one. 

Before Nico could react, his hand was being grabbed and the world spun. He was soon standing in front of the gods. He thought about bowing, but decided not to and remained standing. Everyone glared at him, but he remained standing.

He didn’t speak, just stood, a hand placed over his stomach, protecting his baby girl to the best of his ability, wishing for the support of just having the son of Poseidon present, but knowing he was probably safely sleeping on the couch.

Once the gods realized Nico’s resistance on bowing, Zeus began to speak, his voice boomed in Nico’s ears. “I’m sure you have some idea as to why we have summoned you here,”

“I can imagine,” Nico scoffed, the abrupt teleportation hurting his back more than usual.

The son of Hades spared a glance at his father, his facial expression unreadable. It was blank, but the look in his eyes were just the same as the expression, unreadable. Nico shot his father a look. It was asking if he should be concerned or not.

The god of riches just sent him a look back, showing that he should calm down. Even though Hades wasn’t the most welcoming man, having him there to reassure Nico was more than the boy could ask for. Their relationship has always been...strange, but there was a mutual knowing that they had loved each other. Well, as much as a god can love a demigod.

“We all know the issue at hand, the issue that could change the fate of the world as we know it,” Zeus mumbled the last part, clearly upset at the son of Hades’ decision to keep the child.

“I’m aware, and it’s not an issue, it’s a child,” Nico corrected the god. 

“Despite the point, the issue’s fate is still unknown, it’s fate undecided, but, we do wish to know if you would like to extract the fetus from your life,”

Nico began to feel anger rise in him. Did they seriously just ask that? How clear did he have to make it that he didn’t want to get rid of his daughter, his and Percy’s daughter. How much would he have to curse the names of the gods before they realised he wasn’t going to touch this child.

“What?” Nico snapped. Anger very prominent in his tone. He removed the hand from his stomach, bringing it to his side, clenching his fist to stop from completely snapping.

“You should be in tremendous amount of pain, and listen to my warning,” Apollo began, waving his hand around like they were talking about the weather. “It will only be getting worse, male pregnancies are a pain in the ass, we’re simply trying to rid you of that burden,”

Nico couldn’t believe his ears. “BURDEN?” He asked, probably louder than needed. “She’s not a burden! She is my daughter, my perfect little girl and there is no amount of pain in the world that would stop me from wanting to have this child!”

“Oh, so it’s a girl, how lovely,” Aphrodite smiled as she lightly clapped her hands. Her voice made the son of Hades’ ears want to bleed. He turned her way, shot her a glare, but turned back to Apollo.

“I don’t care if it feels like a drill is stabbing me in the back 24/7, I don’t care if it feels like a chainsaw sawing at me, I do not give a fucking shit if it feels like burning hot fucking lava is sitting in the pit of my stomach, I don’t care, you are not touching my child!” Nico said, more and more anger boiling inside him at the pure stupidity in the Olympians.

“That’s a lot of pain, pain that could all be a waste if I do come to see the fate of the issue and if it harms Olympus,” Apollo said, still lounging casually in his throne.

“No,” Nico said simply. “Nope, not happening, I swear on the River of S -”

“Son,” Hades interjected. “Be careful what you say,” He pleaded, not enough for anyone else but his son to truly notice.

“Father, all do respect, but I am,” Nico turned back to Apollo. “I swear on the River of Styx, you will not harm my daughter, no matter what you see, Fates can change, Olympus will be fine, one demigod can’t ruin th - okay, maybe, but still,”

“That was a very strong promise you’ve made there, di Angelo,” Hera interrupted.

“And I meant every word,” Nico took a deep breath. “Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to go back to New Rome,”

“One last time,” Apollo said, stopping Nico in his tracks. “Would you like to exterminate,” His voice finally showed emotion and that emotion was pity.

“And for the last time I say to you,” Nico said, looking the god in his eyes. “No,” 

It looked as if Apollo was going to say something, but before he could, Nico’s vision became blurry, and moments later, he felt his feet become grounded and he was right back in the room. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his growing belly. The gods were against the small family of three, but dammit Nico wasn’t going to let that happen.

Despite his usual pattern of not being hungry and only eating when he had to, he actually was hungry. He really wanted coffee, but knowing he couldn’t have that, he really wanted a peanut butter, without jelly, sandwich, don’t ask him why, he usually loved jelly, but right now he just wanted peanut butter.

He walked out of the room and down the hallway. The socks he had on his feel padding down on the new hardwood floors. He got to the kitchen, hearing soft snores from the son of Poseidon before opening the cupboard. He grabbed the peanut butter, but never pulled it out. What if the baby was allergic to peanuts? 

He groaned but looked for another source of food. He couldn’t find anything he truly wanted, so he began to lightly hit his head against the dark pantry door, trying to convince himself out of grabbing the peanut butter and eating it anyway. 

Could babies even be allergic to foods when they were inside the belly? Was that possible? It was times like these that Nico really hated the no technology rule for demigods. Being raised in the early 1900’s, it was never a true problem for him, but he heard how you could find answers on them in a quick search, and that would have been really useful.

He felt a kick in his stomach and gave a light smile. He stopped hitting his head when he heard a noise come from the couch. He turned his head to look towards the mumbling Percy. He seemed to be having a nightmare of some sort, he was mumbling ‘No’ and ‘Please’ 

Nico walked over to the son of Poseidon, he was turning back and forth, getting more panicky by the second, Nico placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Percy,” He whispered. “Wake up,” 

The son of Poseidon did the opposite, only freaking out more, tears catching on his dark eyelashes, the only light coming from the TV which was on a low volume. 

“Perce,” Nico whispered again, slightly moving his shoulder now. “Percy, wake up,” He said a little louder. “It’s okay,” Nico lowered himself on his knees since hunching over was hurting his back. “Percy, come on, it’s okay,” He said, shaking the same shoulder a little more.

“No, please, gods, no, I can’t, no” Was the reply Nico got. He felt a strange feeling in his heart, he hated seeing Percy so sad.

“Come on, Perce, please,” Nico was nudging him a bit more, and that resulted in bright green eyes, glazed over with tears, opening wide, the pupils changing sizes, adjusting to the light.

“Nico,” he whispered quietly before sitting up a bit. The son of Poseidon patted down on the couch for Nico to sit, he immediately took the son of Hades’ hand, holding it close. “Nico,” He repeated.

Nico took the hand the other wasn’t holding and reached up for Percy’s face. He wiped a tear away and smiled. Percy just kept holding Nico’s hand, he held on to it like at any second, it would just disappear.

“You were,” the son of Poseidon begam, but was choking on words. “You had, you died and she died, and you were gone, Nico, you were dead, you had died,” He mumbled randomly.

Nico scooted closer to Percy, resting on his knees. “I’m not though, we’re right here,” Nico said, knowing Percy was probably talking more about their daughter being gone instead of him. Nico grabbed Percy’s hand and placed it on his stomach. “She’s right here,”

“They killed you,” Percy mumbled. “I couldn’t do anything, they just -” Percy took his hands and placed them on Nico’s face. He stroked the pale cheek. “I just had to watch as they -”

“Perce, it’s okay,”

The son of Poseidon nodded by didn’t remove his hands. He just looked deeply into Nico’s eyes, making the son of Hades very self-conscious.

“T-Tell me not to do this,” He said, leaning closer to Nico. “If you don’t want this, I need you to tell me.” Percy said, getting even closer.

Nico’s breath hitched. He wanted this more than anything. Was he ready to do it? Maybe not, but he did want it. 

Nico didn’t comment, he just moved himself closer, until their lips had connected. 

It was something so amazingly beautiful Nico didn’t know how to describe it. It was a small kiss at first. Just a peck, Nico took in the taste of the sea. They quickly connected their lips once more, the kiss lasting a lot longer. Their lips moved in perfect sync, Nico brought his hands up around Percy’s tan neck.

The kiss lingered, lips connected, seperating for half a moment, then connected again. The kiss broke apart, the two demigods catching their breath as they touched foreheads. Nico kept his eyes close, aware of the blush that was appearing on his cheeks.

“I’m right here,” He whispered.

Percy wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist. Nico kept his hands where they were, still breathing, but now opening his eyes slightly, his brown orbs met with bright green ones. 

The word ‘Love’ kept coming to mind, but Nico denied it. He couldn’t love him yet. So instead, he settled with keeping his forehead on Percy’s staring into his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY KISSSSSSED
> 
> ~This work can also be found on Wattpad~


	19. Chapter Nineteen

The dream was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Percy remembered every detail of it. Nico’s, already pale, skin was even more pale, the blood draining from his body, the pigment in his cheeks fading as Percy was restricted from getting to his body, he was stuck by invisible bonds and could not help the son of Hades.

People were laughing, ridiculing him, calling it hopeless, a lost cause, a doomed relationship, that Nico dying iwas for the best.

He was bound to something, something that hurt, but not near as bad as seeing what he saw. There were tears in Nico’s eyes as he took his last breath, cuts covering him, his hand protectively placed on his stomach.

Nico whispered for Percy to save the baby, to do everything to save the baby, but he couldn’t. Not only was it overly premature, he was also stuck, and Nico was dying and he kept calling out for someone to stop it, for someone to please help him, but no one did. They never did.

Percy was then being shaken awake. “Nico,” He whispered, not believing his eyes. It was a dream. He sat up a bit, still looking at Nico. He patted the couch next to him so the other boy would no longer have to kneel on the floor. The son of Hades did just that and Percy gripped the pale hand like it may disappear. “Nico,” He repeated, a bit more loud an audible, still not believing his eyes.

Nico took the hand Percy wasn’t grasping to wipe the tears away from his eyes. Percy held on to Nico’s hand, the dream repeating itself in his head. He looked at the hand in disbelief. “You were,” Percy’s voice faltered, the thought of that actually happening being too much. “You had , you died, and she died, and you were gone, Nico you were dead, you had died,” He told the other boy, not knowing what else to do.

Nico got closer to the son of Poseidon, which the taller boy highly appreciated. Feeling the other boy close to him was calming, being able to hear the breaths the other boy was taking calmed Percy down.

“I’m not though, we’re right here,” Nico took the hand Percy was holding and placed it on his bump, the baby safely in the son of Hades, kicking lightly. “She’s right here,”

Percy held back all the tears he could. “They killed you, I couldn’t do anything, they just -” Percy took his hand and placed it on Nico’s face. He stroked the pale cheek, that even though pale, and in shitty lighting, still had a dash of color, color showing he was alive and breathing.

“Perce, it’s okay,” Nico said, cutting off Percy’s delusional sentence.

The son of Poseidon only nodded but kept his hands on the warm cheek. He looked into the wide eyes of the son of Hades, then trailed down to his pink lips. His very soft looking lips, then back to his eyes. The boy in front of him was so beautiful.

Perfect. Perfect and beautiful. Those were the words, not the only words, but words that described Nico di Angelo. “T-Tell me not to do this,” Percy said, leaning closer to the son of Hades, aware that he may not be ready for something so soon after a break up and not wanting to do anything the other didn’t want. “If you don’t want this, I need you to tell me,” The tan boy said, leaning even closer.

There was a moment. A moment of just silence between the two, then Nico leaned forward, connecting their lips for a short peck. The two demigods pulled back, only for a second before connecting their lips again for a more lingering kiss.

They would kiss, break apart for a breath, before kissing again. Percy found Nico tasting of Vanilla. It was beautiful and amazing and ended all to soon.

The two boys leaned each other’s foreheads together, panting heavily, catching breath. Percy moved his hands down to the other boys waist. He opened his eyes slightly to look back into Nico’s eyes. “I’m right here,” Nico whispered. His hands wrapped around the son of Poseidon's’ neck.

“Y-Yeah,” Percy panted, not breaking eye contact. He was aware of the very awkward conversation he was about to have, and while he wanted it to happen because communication was key for any relationship, he really hated awkward conversations.

Nico broke out into a smile before leaning his head on Percy’s chest. Percy was confused, but appreciated the embrace and being able to take in Nico. He was alive, the son of Poseidon could feel his heartbeat.

“I - I think there’s a conversation that we need to have,” Nico said, sitting up from the other boy, a small smile plastered on his face and even in the poor light, Percy could see a small blush tinting his cheeks.

Percy took in a large breath before breathing out, the words ‘Yeah’ coming out with the breath. He laid his back on the couch, being bold and putting an arm around Nico. The son of Hade snuggled into the side, but not to much to make it seem like he cared, but Percy knew the pale boy did.

“W-What is this?” Nico asked, it barely audible. “I don’t really want t-to be that person, but If we’re being honest, it’s almost...frustrating, I - I, idon’tknowhowtosaythis, okay, I t-think, dammitthisstutter, um, I think I l-like you, I say think because I’ve never reallybeengood with feelings and things like this, well of course I’m not really goodatthingslikethis, because well, Ihadeneverbeen pregnant before, but you, I think - I’m sorry, I don’t know how,” Nico trailed off after his rant, the son of Hades looking at Percy, a silent question in his eyes that Percy couldn’t read.

Percy couldn’t help finding the blushing rambling Nico adorable, but then realized he should reply. “I think I like you too, Nico, I think I like everything about you, honestly, I know I do, I knew I did for a long time, but I didn’t know how to say it, and what this is, I have no clue.

“It could be so much, it could be anything from two teen parents raising a child together but living separate lives, to something like a romantic relationship, and - uh - I don’t really like the first option, but I don’t want to do anything you don’t want, and I understand how your feelings may be, no matter what they may be, and I also understand this will not be the most - normal relationship - if that’s what this becomes, or, gods, um,”

Percy hated how awkward this was, but he was elated the conversation was happening because he would be lying if he didn’t want to wake up every morning seeing the son of Hades’ sleeping face like the time in the car, Percy wanted to place small kisses on Nico’s shoulder and lips, Percy just wanted to be with Nico.

“So,” Nico began, dragging out the ‘O’, looking up at the son of Poseidon. “I - do you - can we - would you,” Nico kept searching for the correct words to say but before he could, Percy was leaning closer.

“Can I kiss you, again?” Percy asked, leaning closer to the son of Hades. Nico nodded, and that was all Percy needed before connecting their lips. He wanted to keep talking, but at the same time, he wanted to kiss Nico. The son of Hades had just said he liked him, and that overwhelmed Percy and made him smile so brightly that he couldn’t resist the urge to kiss the other boy any longer.

~POV Switch~

“Can I kiss you, again?” Percy asked. The son of Hades could feel Percy’s breath and it made him shiver. He gave a light nod, and their lips connected. Nico melted into the kiss, putting passion into the kiss. All Nico had wanted to do for the past five months was kiss the son of Poseidon. 

Now, he was, and he didn’t want to stop. He hated himself for wanting it, but gods he wanted it. How could something so good and so right be so fucking bad? Who cares. Nico didn’t. He continued to kiss the son of Poseidon, not completely submitting, but not putting up the strongest battle for dominance in the kiss. Percy had his hands traveling around Nico’s thin back, fingertips lightly tracing along the pale skin. 

When the kiss broke, the two boys panted before slowly easing back into another kiss. No one truly fighting for dominance because it wasn’t important. What was important was each other, the connection they were sharing, the family they had started, that was what mattered, that was what needed to be thought of, not who was on top, not who’d kiss the other harder, it was just the fact of being with each other, finally. After four months, it was happening, and gods, was Nico ready. Ready for it all.

And all, was what he was getting. He had four months of pent up feelings, emotions, and gods he was living off of memories, memories from The Night. That Night that started all of this, The Night that had ruined relationships, The Night that moved him across the country, The Night that caused everything and while That Night seems sucky, That Night was what he had been holding onto for months. 

He didn’t want to hold onto That Night anymore. He wanted another night. He needed another night. Their daughter was roughly the size of an avocado, and Nico knew once she got bigger, the problem that now forming in his pants, wouldn’t be taken care of, mainly due to the fact he’d be too tired to care.

Not to mention, his newly used hormones were itching for Percy to touch him, to kiss him, to love him. Nico sat up to move so he would be straddling the son of Poseidon, barely breaking the kiss. 

“S’Beautiful,” Percy mumbled before connecting their lips again, Nico blushed lightly at the small compliment, hoping it wasn’t a lie. Nico moaned as sloppy kiss was placed on his neck, their lips connecting again shortly after.

Nico tugged at the son of Poseidon's T shirt, wanting more contact. Percy lifted his hands away from Nico’s hips, pulling his shirt over his head, tossing it away somewhere. Nico blushed at the sight, he didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop the heat rising to his cheeks, or the rush of feeling rushing to his groin. Nico decided to blame the hormones for being so sensitive to the tan boys touch.

Percy began to return the tugging, silently asking if Nico would let him remove the shirt, the son of Hades was definitely worried what Percy may think. His bump wasn’t that big, but it was still something to be insecure about. Either way, he shyly nodded, and Percy threw the shirt, allowing it to join the rest.

Nico blushed, utterly embarrassed, and admittedly self aware of all flaws he possessed. Percy must have picked up on this as Nico began to cover his body with his arms. The son of Poseidon grabbed Nico’s hands, he didn’t pull them away, however, knowing it would most likely make Nico uncomfortable. “Hey,” He smiled, looking into wide, dark brown, eyes. 

Nico didn’t reply, only looking back up at Percy, brown orbs meeting green. He allowed his pale arms to go limp, Percy carefully removing them completely, searching for any sign of discomfort. Once the arms were by Nico’s side, Percy placed his on Nico’s hips. “You are absolutely beautiful, okay? Everything about you,”

Nico didn’t know who to reply to this, instead he just blushed, this time for a completely different reason. Of course, the small voice in the back of his head thought everything Percy was saying was a lie, but the larger voice, his logical side, was telling him everything the son of Poseidon was saying, was what he believed true.

Percy kissed the top of Nico’s head. “Perfect, everything about you,” He mumbled, planting a light kiss onto Nico’s lips. When Percy pulled away from the small peck, Nico connecting their lips again, this time it was flowing with more passion. He is still blaming the hormones. 

Nico tried his hardest to push all insecurities away as he lowered himself off the couch, getting onto his knees, leaving kisses above Percy’s waistline. Percy let out a moan and that urged the son of Hades on. 

Nico looked up into Percy’s bright green eyes, the pupils blown wide, searching for any sign for withdrawn consent before fiddling lightly at the waistline of Percy’s sweatpants, Percy brought down his hand lightly, placing it gently on the son of Hades’ cheek before nodding, still stroking his thumb over the pale skin that was slightly tinted pink.

Nico slowly pulled off the grey fabric, Percy helping him get the rest of it off once it got down to his ankles. With the pants gone, Nico kissed around Percy’s thighs, leaving at least one hickey before tugging down the thin fabric of Percy’s boxers, allowing his erection to spring up from it’s confinements. 

Nico licked up, base to tip, earning a moan from Percy. With this, Nico took in the tip, swirling his tongue around it a bit before taking in more, Percy took his hand and gripped Nico’s hair, roughly but also gently, reminding Nico of how the boy had balanced out the right amount of dominance on That Night. 

Percy tried his hard not to buck up into the mouth of the younger boy, wanting this to last long, but the way the other boy was swirling his tongue, scarcely running the flat tip over the top was making the task harder said than done.

Nico continued bobbing his head up and down, taking in the taste of Percy. Nico moaned around his cock at the taste of precum, causing Percy’s grip to tighten in Nico’s hair just a bit, before releasing again, all while letting out a low moan.

The son of Hades continued working at Percy’s cock, feeling it twitch lightly and pulling off. He smirked up at his lover, before said lover, pulled him up, catching his lips in a kiss. Nico was shocked at first, but recovered quickly and kissed back. 

“You,” Percy said, panting in between words. “Are,” Their lips meet once more. “Way too,” Percy’s hands find their way on Nico’s hips. “Overdressed,” He finished as Nico finally managed to reposition himself so he was straddling the son of Poseidon.

The shorter boy blushed at the comment, nodding as Percy helped to slide down his joggers, having to awkwardly maneuver them off, both of the boys letting out light laughs at the situation. Nico was relieved when not a hint of mockery was found in Percy’s voice.

When both Nico’s underwear and pants were off, they both smiled before continuing, looking deeply into each other’s eyes. They connected their lips again, Nico rising from Percy’s lap slightly, their erections rubbing together, causing both boys to moan.

“Percy~” Nico moans as the son of Poseidon bucks his hips up a bit, causing friction for both of their members. Percy begins kissing Nico’s shoulders, the son of Hades leaning his head back, letting out a small moan. 

Percy knew the boys had no lube in their new house, it’s not exactly like Reyna was expecting them to come home and have sex, so it truly wasn’t her fault, but there was no way he could go in dry. He started thinking of lube-like things they could use. Multiple of the ideas being items like, condiments, but those were quickly pushed away. 

Percy takes one hand and pumps Nico’s cock whilst thinking of what to do, and then he finds the answer it gets like, 30x harder. Nico’s perfect, plump, pink lips. Just the thought of his fingers in that hot little mouth had the power to bring any man down to his knees. 

So, with the hand that wasn’t working slowly at the son of Hades’ cock, he disconnected the kiss and lifted up his hand to the precious lips of Nico di Angelo. “Can you suck on them for me, beautiful,?” Percy asked, kissing the son of Hades’ shoulder and the junction between his shoulder and neck.

Nico blushed, stuttering for words before parting his lips, allowing the tan digits to enter his mouth as he swirled. He moved his tongue around the three fingers, coaxing them as much as possible, knowing why Percy had insisted on this.

The son of Poseidon had never seen anything hotter. Gods, it was so hot. He bucked his hips slightly, it was almost instinct. He regained his composure as the pale boy worked on covering his fingers in saliva. 

After a few more moments of that, as long as Percy could truly bare, and by the short pants coming from the son of Hades from pumping at his dick, Nico wouldn’t last much longer like this either. Percy, with no haste, pulled his fingers out of Nico’s mouth. 

He trailed his hand down to Nico’s perky arse, proding around a bit for the hole, before inserting his middle finger, causing a gasp from Nico, who jumped up slightly, before sinking back down on the digit. He whispered out Percy’s name as the son of Poseidon began pumping the finger in and out.

“Perce, please, m - ah - more,” Nico panted, Percy happily obliged, inserting a second finger, letting Nico adjust to the knew finger, not wanting to hurt him in the slightest and being extra careful since they were using saliva as lubricant. 

Percy began scissoring the fingers, stretching Nico out a bit more, his own cock was throbbing at the noises that were being created by the son of Hades. After scissoring for a moment, Percy added a third finger, feeling around for the bundle of nerves that would make the younger boy gasp out his name.

Percy found it, and the result was better than what he was expecting. Nico buried his head into Percy’s shoulder, moaning out his name, along with a string of courses in English, Greek, and Italian. “Gods, Perce, Please, I need you, n-now,” Nico panted, riding his fingers.

Percy kiss at Nico’s pale shoulder, just quick kisses, before sliding his fingers out, and positioning his dick directly below Nico’s prepped hole, wet with spit. “Ready?” He asked, his voice low and husky.

“More than,” Was the reply Percy got, which he found incredibly hot. He thrusted in slowly, allowing Nico to adjust. The son of Hades arched his back at the new feeling, but lowered down to meet Percy when the feeling got more familiar. Percy bucked his hips up a bit as Nico settled down, causing the younger boy to moan.

Nico began riding the son of Poseidon after that, his pale hands braced on the tan shoulder as he moved up and down. Percy occasionally bucked up, causing the younger boy to gasp, making Percy moan just at the perfect sound erupting from Nico.

Things began to speed up, the only noises to be heard were moans, groans, pants, and the sound of skin slapping against skin as Nico gripped Percy’s shoulder, Percy’s cock hitting Nico’s prostate with every thrust.

Nico tried to form a coherent sentence, but was failing miserably. He couldn’t seem to think straight (A/N insert gay joke here). “P - Ah - Perce, I - I - m’Gonna c - ah - um,” was the best the son of Hades could manage. 

“Me t - too,” Percy pants, thrusting up, meeting Nico as he rode him. Percy got his hand and pumped Nico again, this time going harder and faster than before, wanting the younger boy to cum so badly. 

As Percy pumped Nico, he held on for as long as he could before cumming with a cry, shouting Percy’s name as the white hot liquid coaxed both their chests. Nico’s hole clenched, Percy cumming at the new tightness in the already tight hole. 

Once both both boy had finished riding out their climaxes, they leaned against each other, panting and catching their breath before Nico broke out into a huge smile and looked up at Percy. He was simply overwhelmed at the returned feelings, and at the fact he just had the best sex of his life with Percy Jackson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pregnant. People. Have. Sex. Deal. With. It. Also! I love you guys so much! I was just in a smut writing mood and I was like, they could have sex because in my other two fics, it wouldn't make any since, so yeah. I could have made a one-shot, but whatever. It's a 3.4K word chapter sooooi


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: Small bits of homophobia

After both the boys showered, they fell asleep together, arms and feet tangled with each other’s and the sheets. Nico hadn’t felt this warm and safe in a long time. It was nice to wake up next to someone, not just someone, but Percy Jackson, instead of waking up alone. 

As Nico slowly opened his eyes, he decided he wasn’t in exactly a hurry, so he closed them again, snuggling himself closer to Percy’s side, a hand laid on his baby bump as their daughter began kicking, well ‘began’ wouldn’t be the word for it. More like, continued sense the little ray of sunshine wouldn’t stop kicking Nico all night.

It was seriously becoming a pain, but then all Nico had to do was think of the sweet little baby girl and then, the pain wouldn’t stop, but he could manage a little better. Nico kissed Percy’s bare chest, smiling to himself at the fact he was sleeping next to Percy fucking Jackson.

“G’mornin’” Percy smiled, nnuzzling his head into Nico’s hair, making the son of Hades smile lightly.

The pale boy yawned. “Morning,” Percy wrapped his hands around Nico’s hips, making the son of Hades feel insecure. While he loved his bump, it was different. He was a boy, he had always been a boy, he looked like a boy, and he was happy about that, but for some reason, he did get pregnant, and he still didn’t know why, but all he knew was he was insecure about the growing bump on his stomach.

Percy clearly picked up on this because he kissed Nico’s forehead. “I find it beautiful, stop, please,”

Nico just blushed and snuggled closer to Percy, the son of Poseidon smiling happily. “How’d you sleep,” came a low voice slightly above Nico, belonging to Percy. Nico decided that he was going to lie, because the truthful answer would be horrible, but Percy didn’t need to know that.

“Okay,” Nico lied, “You?”

“Pretty okay,” He said, kissing Nico’s forehead again. The two demigods sat in comfortable silence, neither one of them wanting to get up, but there was currently a baby pushing down on Nico’s bladder which made the entire situation bittersweet.

“What do you want for breakfast?” Percy asked, his hand rubbing soothing circles on the small of Nico’s back.

Nico let out a small little laugh, more of a giggle. “Nothing you make,”

Percy let out a laugh. “I am so hurt,” He said sarcastically. “I just, I don’t know what to do, I am such an amazing chef that -”

“My greatest apologies, but I don’t feel like getting food poisoning, now, scootch over,” Nico says, removing Percy’s hand, but Percy just relocated it and held on tighter. 

“I don’t want you to go!” Percy laughed. “I’ll get cold,” 

“Use a blanket,” Nico said, reaching around and finding the balled up, navy blue comforter and throwing it on the son of Poseidon. 

“The blanket’s cold,” Percy complained, but releasing his grip on Nico either way. 

“To bad,” Nico laughed as he walked into the bathroom. He quickly peed, before washing his hands, throwing on some black pajama pants to add with his black shirt. He really needed to expand his color choices.

He walked into the kitchen looking for food because he knew Percy would burn the entire house down if he didn’t make breakfast. Percy truly wasn’t the best at cooking.

He decided on making french toast, he grabbed bread, eggs, milk, cinnamon, and the other ingredients required to make the delicious food that his mother made every Saturday. He turned on the stove, putting a pan on top of the burner. He mixed the ingredients, dipped the bread in, and placed them on the pan.

After cooking three pieces, only needing one more, he felt hands wrap around his waist and a chin rest on his shoulder. He smiled happily. Were they dating? Probably not, but there was a lot more physical contact with the son of Poseidon, and Nico really liked that.

“Hey,” Percy said, almost making Nico shiver at the closeness.

“Hi,” Nico said, flipping the toast so it didn’t burn. He was loving how domestic this all was. It made him just smile warmly. He was living in a house, with a boyfriend, both of them parents-to-be, and it was all so warm and fuzzy and - Nico could spend hours listing off everything he loved about the turn of events, but decided instead to just enjoy the moment. 

Percy smelt so good. Like the ocean, but with his own unique scent to it; he smelt like Percy. That was the only way to describe it. Percy pushed Nico’s hair out of the way, revealing his neck, and leaving innocent kisses along his shoulders.

“You’re going to make me burn the toast,” Nico complains, but tilts his head to the side, leaving more of his neck available.

Percy just laughed and pressed his lips against Nico’s cheek before pulling away and sitting down on the counter next to the food. Nico finished the last thing of food and put the toast on two plates. They ate breakfast making small talk.

“What do you want to do today?” Percy asked, picking up both their plates and walking over to the sink where he began to wash the dishes, running them under the water. Nico opened the fridge and grabbed the nectar and poured some into a glass. He downed it and it washed away most the nausea that was creeping on.

“I don’t know,” He replied, screwing the cap back on the nectar. He placed it back in the fridge before turning around to be greeted with Percy leaning on the counter. “Anything, really,”

“How helpful,” Percy laughed, lightly.

“I know,” Nico smiles before walking into the living room and sitting down on the couch, Percy joining him soon after. The son of Hades grabbed a blanket and threw it over the two demigods. 

“We can do anything you want,”

Nico sighed before dramatically turning his head to look over at the son of Poseidon. “We could,” Nico began, he dragged out the last word while he thought. Then, his face lit up. “We could go shopping for the nursery,” He smiled, really wanting to put furniture in that room.

Percy smiled. “Yes!” He laughed. “That, I want to do that, too,” He stood up before reaching his hand out for the other boy. 

“I just sat down,” Nico complained, but took Percy’s hand anyway and stood up. 

“But now I’m excited. Come on,” He laughed walking into their shared room, Nico trailing behind. They went into their respective closet, changed, and Nico went to try and tame his hair. Percy walked in behind him and smiled. “You should wear it in a ponytail,” Percy suggested.

Nico snorted. “Yeah, no thanks,”

“Whatever,” Percy scoffed, kissing the back of Nico’s head before walking back out of the room, going and grabbing a jacket. Nico grabbed a credit card from his bedside table drawer. Hades was also known as the god or riches, and Nico knew the god would pay for whatever he bought, he always did, his father was the one who told him to get the card anyway.

After slipping on some converse, Nico walked down the hallway to meet with Percy in the living room, before both boys head out, hoping it wasn’t to hot outside. Luckily, it wasn’t, if anything it was on the colder side.

They calmly walked around New Rome. Nico had spent a lot of time here when he was 14, but it had changed a bit, and he didn’t remember it that much, so it was nice to see his old home. The two boys walked down the streets, Nico took a great notice to the kids running around.

New Rome was safe for them. These kids were around 14, and Nico knew when he was that age, he was not as safe and secure, and he was so glad that their daughter wasn’t going to be in the same situation he was.

A few seconds later, Nico felt something warm in his hand and looked down to find Percy’s intertwined with his. Nico noticed blood rushing to his cheeks and he looked away down at his feet, but rubbed his thumb over Percy’s hand anyway. 

The demigods kept walking and finally approached the gates, they waved at Hazel as the female demigod allowed them to pass. They walked past the river, then, once to the road, they called a cab, which Nico was thankful for because if he had to walk any longer, his back might have snapped in two.

They climbed into the yellow car, Nico making sure Percy buckled. It was something he always stressed. He was born in the early 1900’s and cars weren’t the same since back then, and Nico just always stressed seatbelts. These new cars were too unreliable.

“Where are we going to go, anyway?” Percy asked, laughing lightly.

“I don’t know, I’m pretty sure when Toys ‘R us closed, so did Babies ‘R us,” Nico reasoned, thinking of anywhere to go to get baby things.

Nico rubbed his thumb over their intertwined hands. “Yeah,” Percy sighed. “It sucks how they did that, I never really went there anyway, but still, I’m sure there’s a store somewhere, hey-” Percy said, tapping the glass of the cab.

The driver, a fat man with a red face, looked over at their hands and scoffed, but looked up at Percy anyway. “Yes?” He grunted.

“Do you know where a baby store could be?”

“It depends,” He said, turning the steering wheel and turning onto a busy highway. “Why do you need to know, you adoptin’?”

“Nope,” Nico answered truthfully, a knowing smirk on his face. “Not adopting,”

“Mkay,” He sighed, turning once more. “There’s a store up here,”

Nico smiled and looked up at Percy and the two proceeded to chuckle. This man would freak out if Nico told him he was pregnant. Maybe he’d just assume he was trans, but still.

They drove for awhile more before the man pulled over to a nice little shop with baby things in the windows. Nico unbuckled, as did Percy, and they climbed out on the same side. Before Nico closed the door, Nico heard the man mumbled ‘fags’ 

Percy heard this and his eyes opened wide, Nico just gave Percy an entertained smirk before sticking his head back into the cab. “Actually, we’re demigods, are parents are greek gods and we’ve saved the world from destruction as we know it, but now we’re retired and living in a camp in california called New Rome, and I’m pregnant!” He smiled before closing the cab and linking hands with the son of Poseidon.

“He probably,” Percy said between his fits of laughter. “Thinks we’re crazy now,” 

“Eh, what he gets, he’s an asshole,” Nico laughs back as the two demigods walked into the store. It smelt nice, like hopefulness. Was that a scent? Who knew. Either way, Percy and Nico both broke out into gigantic grins.

They walked around the store, looking at random things. “I have no clue how we’re going to get all this back,” Nico laughs as Percy puts a basic white crib into a cart that already had a blue fuzzy blanket that of course the baby wouldn’t sleep with, but it would need a blanket, and then, it also had a green sheet with this weird like crib decoration blanket thing, Nico had no clue what it was called, but it was like a throw blanket you could tie on a part of the crib to make it look nice.

They had also picked out a few small outfits, all colors and all types. Of course, while they didn’t want to force a baby into too many stereotypes, there was a tutu that both of them fell in love with. They also bought a bunch of little onesies.

Along with that, they had diapers, bottles, pacifiers, baby food, formula, and one of those baby sitting things. You know, they’re like chairs, but made of this weird material, and it was yellow. Then, they got bibs and little baby socks and shoes, with beanies. 

They also got a high chair and a few teethers and other toys that make noise, just shaking ones and other things. They also got a walker with a feed tray and a few more noise makers, which Nico didn’t know if he would regret later.

They also bought a lot of stuffed animals, a few of them you could wind up and they would sing. Lastly, they bought a changing table and a few baby books.

There were a few more things, just regular things babies needed, but it wasn’t much. The total was absolutely ridiculous, but luckily, neither one of the demigods were paying for it. So, here they were, sitting outside of the baby store, with a bunch of baby crap.

No taxi would pick them up like this. “We could call blackjack -”

“No, that horse is a death trap, someone will get here soon, some nice Taxi, I’m sure of it,”

“Don’t call my horse a death trap, and, babe, I don’t think anyone is going to pick us up with like 7 bags of baby things and two large boxes,”

“Aren’t you hopeful, come on, this is California, there has to be some druggy that wants to pick us up,”

“We’re not going to ride with a drug-head!” Percy retorts.

“Oh get over it- LOOK! Drug head!” Nico smiles, waving down the giant van.

“Nico I don’t think we should,” 

“Come on,” Nico laughed, as the driver pulled up. Nico opened the back of the car and began lifting the bags and boxes into the trunk.

“Nico,” Percy said, concern very present in his voice. “I don’t think we should-”

“Please, shut up,” Nico laughed, gesturing to the crib box. “And help me, it hurts my back,” Nico said truthfully as he walked over to the drivers side. 

“Nico, I really do not think,”

“Oh, shush, shush,” Nico smiled before hoping the in the car. Percy lifted the box and put it in the back with the other items. He ran over to the side of the car Nico was in. 

Percy was about to speak, but Nico opened the door and pulled him in. “Nico I don’t-”

“This is Jules-Albert,” Nico laughed at the concerned expression on Percy’s face. “He was a gift from my dad,” Nico turned to the driver. “grazie, questo è Percy,” Nico gestured to the boy next to him.

The driver nodded and smiled before pulling out onto the road.”You scared the shit out of me, di Angelo,”

“I knew I would,”

“You’re just full of freaking people out today, aren’t you?”

“Yup,” Nico smiled, leaning up a bit and kissing Percy on the cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter was everywhere, sorry/  
> this work can also be found on ao3


	21. Twenty-One

When the two demigods got home, Percy unloaded everything from the car, Nico grabbing as much as he could without major back pain. Speaking of back pain, it was getting worse and worse as the baby grew. He knew all pregnant people received back pain, but he couldn’t help but wonder if it was just a bit different since he was male.

Then, he told himself that was just what Reyna called, male brain, which is to make every situation worse for him even if a girl goes through the same thing. Nico was blaming his male brain on a lot of his pain lately, and that made him think of Reyna, he wanted to see her soon.

When everything was put up into the house, Nico made himself and Percy some lunch. They ate while talking on the couch, planning where to put things and other things. When done, Nico took a swig of Nectar, and it helped his back just a bit, but not enough.

Percy cleaned the dishes, well, he ran them under the water and left them in the sink. Nico decided to deal with it later. They then scooted everything that was in the living room/hallway into the empty room where their daughter would be living for hopefully the rest of their lives. Then, that scared the living shit out of Nico because the rest of your life is a long time, but the fear was quickly gone as he saw Percy carrying the crib and the bassinet AND the changing table, trying not to drop them.

He realized how much Percy would do for their daughter and it reassured him. Nico followed after him, carrying in the rest of the crab, really enjoying the fact the Nectar had soothed his pain to an extent. 

The two demigods decided to change into something a lot more comfortable. Nico changed into fluffy pajama pants, and a black tank top. Percy going into joggers and a blue T Shirt. Nico slid on grey socks because socks are great and the hardwood floors were cold. 

When changed, they went back to the nursery and opened up the crib box. “I have no clue how to put this together,” Percy stated as the two looked at the pieces and the very confusing directions that weren’t in greek so neither one of them could read it.

“I have no clue, either,” Nico states, his hands on both his hips as he looked at the white pieces, then up at Percy and smiled, receiving one back, and looking back down, slightly blushing. Nico slowly sat down on the floor and grabbed one of the four pieces from the sides. “I think - I think if you put this one, with this one, then - no, that wouldn’t make sense,”

“I know they’re four legs, and then four walls, and a bottom,” Percy said, know kneeling on the ground.

“Thank you, Sherlock,” Nico laughed. He looked around for the instructions, trying to make sense of the pictures. “Okay, from what I can see,” Nico started, reaching for a certain bag of screws. “We put these two together, then - do we have this?” Nico asks, gesturing to a weird twisty thingy. 

“A screwdriver?” Percy asks, holding back a laugh. 

“If that’s what that is, yeah!” Nico smiled, putting down the instructions and looking at Percy. 

“How do you not know what that is?” He asked, getting up and walking out the nursery. 

“I don’t know, when I was born, it was really different, I didn’t have anyone to teach me crap like that,” Nico shrugs, getting up and leaning against the doorway as he saw Percy walking around. “It wasn’t really important, and I was only like nine, then I went into a hotel, then camp, then you kind of know the rest, plus when the Athena cabin can just put it together for you, it seems kind of unimportant,”

“Well, this,” Percy said, opening the hall closet and grabbing a bag that was on the top shelf. He reached in the bag and pulled out a ‘screwdriver’ that had a blue handle. “Is a screwdriver,” He said, making a motion as if he was about to toss.

The son of Hades side-stepped back into the nursery, popping his head out from behind the frame. “I swear to the gods, Perseus Jackson, if you throw that in the new house I am going to literally murder you,”

“One, no you wouldn’t, and secondly, don’t call me Perseus, it usually means I’m in trouble, and I really don’t like that,” Percy laughed as he walked into the empty room. Nico went to sit back down where he was, and Percy going back to his spot.

“Well, that’s the point, I used your full name to get a point across, if you throw a fucking screwdriver, I will murder you,”

“Ah, well,” Percy said, tossing the tool in the air and catching it again. “Point taken,”

“I’m glad,” Nico smiled, then leaned over to kiss Percy quickly on the lips, blushing lightly, then sitting back down. Percy smiled goofily before coughing a bit and asking what to do next. Nico grabbed the instructions.

He grabbed the screws with the right label on it, which was very difficult due to the dyslexia, “okay, these are used to put this, this, this, and this, with that,” Nico explained, pointing to the parts of the crib, Percy picking them up and pulling it away from the stack.

“Okay, and how does that go?” Percy asked, setting up the pieces to the best of his abilities. 

Nico laughed and leaned over the stack of crib parts. “No, this one, this goes here, and then this one here, and the other one, there, and the last one over,” Nico looked back over at the picture. “I think right there?”

“So reassuring,” Percy laughed, smiling down as Nico blew the hair out of his face. Percy was baffled at how just beautiful Nico could be without even trying. He truly was just a perfect human-being that Percy couldn’t believe existed. 

If Percy were to make a list of everything he liked about Nico, it would be really long. Like really long. It would probably be his face. Just like, everything about it. He had this really adorable nose, and wide brown eyes, a pink lips that would make any man fall to his knees, like, some straight men. Not to mention his face shape, and how easily he blushed, and how his skin was pale, and his perfect ears, and his messy hair.

He had an amazing sense of humor and was just - perfect.

The son of Poseidon ignored these very gay thoughts and went back too screwing the crib together. Nico was staring down at the picture, concentrating on the pictures, trying to read the words. The very dark brown, almost black, hair fell in front of of his eyes and he blew it out of his face again.

Percy screwed in the last piece and stood up, excusing himself, and walking to the bathroom. He grabbed a hair tie and walked back into the room and sat being Nico briefly. “Wha?”

“Just let me do this,” Percy laughed, carefully pulling Nico’s hair up, Nico rolled his eyes but wanted the hair out of his face, so he didn’t protest.

“I look like a potato with my hair up, so be warned, Jackson,” Nico rolled his eyes while laughing as Percy continued with his hair. 

“I doubt it, you couldn’t look like a potato is you tried,” Percy reassured the son of Hades. Nico blushed and tried focusing on the paper to stop himself from getting even more red. 

When Nico’s hair was up, they went back to what they were doing, Nico trying to make sense of the images, and Percy trying to make sense of Nico’s instructions, until the crib was finally up, and tested by gently nudging it.

“I think it’s good,” Nico said as they picked it up and put it in the spot they both liked. (a/n: I’m going to be putting a picture of the nursery at the end, along with a layout of the house, drawn by, mwah)

The two demigods began to unwrap the changing table, which was constructed as a shelf with two platforms, then on top, having the place where you would lay the baby. It did take awhile to construct it, the pictures not as descriptive as the crib.

“You would think,” Percy began as they put the changing table in the place they had decided. “They would be more considerate for parents with OCD,”

Nico smiled at the word parents as he grabbed the sheet to put over the cushion thing on the top of the table that was green and blue with polka-dots. “Well, most the time, the dyslexia isn’t as bad as a greek descendant may have, and most the time, BOTH parents aren’t dyslexic,”

Percy laughed, grabbing a stuffed monster plush and placing it on the changing table before wrapping his hands under Nico’s bump and leaning his chin on Nico’s shoulder. “It’s kind of cool isn’t it?”

“What?” Nico asks, flattening out the sheet and bracing his hands on the white wooden table. 

“Really the entire thing, I mean, you’re pregnant, but you’re a boy, that makes you like, extra fucking cool, because, well not a lot of guys can carry children, and I’ve heard it’s not exactly enjoyable,”

Nico gave an amused laugh before the two demigods went back to work on the bookshelf. “I guess it is, I wish it happened a bit more, you know, so I could read up on it, I kind of hate the whole not-knowing thing, but it is cool, it’s actually really fucking cool,”

“That’s what I’m saying,” he smiled, making grabby hands for a plank of wood. Nico handed it to him, along with the screws and then instructed him where to put them.

After finally constructing everything, both of them wanted dinner. Nico had no clue what to make, but he asked if Percy could put up the used dishes from Lunch, which the son of Poseidon did begrudgingly. 

“What do you want to eat?” Nico asked, opening the fridge, then the pantry.

“Do you know you have a really cute accent?” Percy said, ignoring Nico’s question. “It’s like, Italian, but mixed with American,”

“Grazie,” Nico laughed before turning back around to face the son of Poseidon. “What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t know,” Percy complained. “Soup,”

“What kind of soup?” Nico said, fake frustration in his voice. Percy laughed in response. 

“I want,” Percy said, taking a deep breath while thinking. “Mac ‘N Cheese,”

“One,” Nico began. “That’s not a soup, Secondly, didn’t we eat that the other night?”

“Yeah, but it’s amazing, so - yeah,”

Nico laughed and just began to make it. When the food was done, they ate it, then cleaned their bowls and made the decision to finish the rest of the nursery tomorrow, which mainly had consisted off blankets, clothes, toys and all together organization.

Nico did still want to see Reyna, but he always got anxious when thinking about leaving the house. He felt like a monster would jump out of the ground and attack him and kill both him and his daughter. So, he didn’t really want to do that.

He sat down on the couch after grabbing a pregnancy book called ‘What to expect when you’re expecting’ Nico bet they didn’t expect for a male to be expecting. Nico laughed at the face someone would make. 

Nico flipped through the pages looking for all the information for five months and up, letting his back rest, really wanting to take another sip of Nectar for his back to feel better, but he knew too much would probably harm their daughter more than help him. 

He kept reading, just flipping through the pages, how big their daughter was, the chances of a complication at five months, which wasn’t the most joyful thing ever.

He also read how she could probably have started hearing them month ago, and Nico’s mind went to all the times they said fuck. He mumbled a shit, then cut himself off and continued reading. 

It was all pretty interesting, once reading about what would be happening to HIM if he wasn’t a boy, he went on to sixth months.

Apparently his breasts should be sore, and he checked, nope, not tender, not swollen, not anything unusual. He then realized that he was going to have to buy a lot of formula. Thanks gods, giving him the power to birth, but not the power to freaking feed his child.

Yeah, it would have been weird, but this entire experience has been pretty odd to say the least, so feeding a child shouldn’t be the weirdest part of it. He just sighed and made a note to self to ask mothers living in New Rome the best types of formula.

Then, he thought of going outside and he decided that he would just ask Percy to ask sally because that’s much better than dying. 

“NICO!!!” Percy yelled as he slide into the archway of the living room, white socks on his feet. “GUYS WHAT??”

“What?” Nico laughed, taking in the sight of his - whatever they had going on. 

“The brain named itself,”

Nico thought of it for a second before his mind exploded. “Oh, my gods, it did!”

“I know! It blew my fucking mind!”

Nico laughed before his face becoming serious. “Shh, you can’t say things like that anymore, apparently she can hear you,” He said, placing a hand over his bump.

Percy’s face lit up and he ran over to the couch. He kneeled down next to Nico and kissed his stomach. Nico lifted up his shirt slightly, revealing the pale skin and Percy smiled, which resulting in Nico smiling.

“She can hear?” Percy asked, kissing the pale stomach again. Nico nodded and Percy began talking. “Hi,” He said, his voice changing, kind of how everyone’s does when you talk to your dog or, well, a baby. “I’m your dad - well - other dad, you get two, you’re going to beat everybody in the ‘my dad can beat your dad’ game, because we’ll just fight them together,’

Nico laughed lightly as the son of Poseidon continued talking. “Anyway, I can’t wait to see you,” Nico smiled at that. Percy was just so amazing in so many ways and Nico truly didn’t deserve him. 

“I bet you’re adorable, I mean there is no way you aren’t,”

“That’s true,” Nico chimed in, Percy looked up and smiled at him. 

Percy kept talking to their daughter and Nico chimed in, smiling down at the small family they had. It was dysfunctional and odd, but it was beautiful and perfect in every single way, and Nico couldn’t be happier. It took a really long time for everything, all the drama, to dial down, and for Nico to be able to breath and take it all in, but now that he could. He enjoyed it so much. He was so happy with this. With Percy, with their daughter, in their new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This work can also be found on Wattpad


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to come out.

Percico House and Nursery  
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/oBrE7XBItX6IY4LU4-yPdmQUPOnNtmEXxhUeR2OtljlmZR1d0GUyNmlRqApkmM6iGsD1T0RC2JyGKTA5j9UKrLLfi_rnTH2VrSeyP2_v   
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/gcxVbQP6lLhAeyfj4hZF2xNoBNxvFN_Rk9Ee5x3weJYUvKgQW4xSrOROmHixp3p_zwgu47pbMa2QaUti9Ihypc3P1pV-Ercm2-N9KzTg 

Percy woke up with his arms wrapped tightly around the son of Hades, who was snuggling closer to his bare chest, a black T-shirt hanging loosely off of his thin frame, Percy kissed the top of Nico’s head and rested his chin on the dark brown hair.

While the son of Hades softly breathed, Percy began to think. What were they? They never really said ‘boyfriend?’ ‘boyfriend.’ but gods would Percy would love to date this beautiful boy. He really liked him, and yes, the pregnancy thing was new, but Percy found it more amazing than anything. Nico literally was a guy, but carrying a baby. That was like...awesome?

Percy was sure if he was in Nico’s position, carrying the child, he would have a little bit of a different approach to this situation. He would probably be nervous. Worried. Concerned. Stressed. Maybe a bit happy. Being the un-pregnant father of their daughter, he could only see joy and happiness and the future.

A future with Nico. Gods. This boy had Percy around his little finger and didn’t even know it. Percy would do anything for Nico, anything he needed. He needed a arm, sure, here’s mine, they’re may be some tone differentiation and a bit longer, but, take it. Need a piece of chocolate, take my entire bar. It wasn’t a hard concept for Percy. It was like second-nature almost.

Percy felt Nico stir and looked down at the adorable demigod next to him. The younger boy yawned and slowly opened his wide brown eyes and scowled at Percy. “What’s that for?” Percy laughed quietly.

“It’s so fucking early,” Nico grumbles as he cuddles his head into Percy’s chest, his hair an adorable mess in Percy’s opinion. 

“Didn’t we just find out the other night that she could hear us?” Percy laughed, kiss the top of Nico’s head. 

“If she has any brain at all, which she will because she is related to me, she would still be sleeping, and usually I don’t hear things in my sleep,”

“I don’t think babies are on the same sleeping schedule as us, it’s usually just dark in there,” Percy reasoned, rubbing his arms up and down Nico’s back. 

Nico made an amused noise, sounding like a snort, but not exactly. “I wonder what is like in there, and it’s not like we can ask her when she comes out, because well, she won’t exactly remember,”

“Well, if she could speak english, I’m sure that she would remember like, right when she came out,” Percy laughed quietly, a small smile tracing on his lips.

Nico un-nuzzled his head from Percy’s chest and turned to face Percy. “Maybe, or maybe it’s just like one of those things no one will ever remember for even a millisecond, even if they can’t remember remembering, maybe that’s because they never did, because… a lot happens when you get brought into life,” Nico thought, pushing away the the thought of how the HELL he was going to push their daughter out of him.

The two male demigods continued wondering what being in the womb is like, and eventually decided to get ready for the day, they both bathed and Percy did a load of laundry, Nico took all his willpower to not pour himself a cup of coffee, and made breakfast that contained french toast, bacon, and eggs. Was it healthy? Who cared.

After eating, Percy asked Nico if he wanted to finish the final things on the nursery, the son of Hades was more than excited to do so, but cleaned off the dishes quickly before hand. When the Italian joined Percy, they folded the clothes, positioned some of the toys, and folded diapers.

There wasn’t much left to be done, but both the boys were just so pumped the nursery was done and that one day soon, it would have their daughter in it. It was weird almost. They slept together, twice now, but still, they didn’t even know what they were, but that didn’t seem to matter, because they both loved their daughter, and they both .... really liked each other. 

Just when the two were happy with there work on their new child’s room, a misty screen appeared in front of him. He looked to Nico, and the son of Hades just shrugged.

“Um, hello?” He asked and Chiron had appeared. 

“Hello, Percy,” The centaur said, grief over his face. “It’s a camper, they need you,”

“Um, what? Usually conversations go a little more happier, why don’t we try, ‘Hello Percy, I’m glad you seem to be happy! Would you like to not be happy anymore?’ because I feel like that’s what you should be saying,”

“I’m sorry, Jackson, but this is no time for formalities, it seems to be very urgent, I have someone calling for you now, and you are expected here in 12 hours, you will travel via Blackjack,”

“What, no!” Percy said, moving his arms dramatically as Nico stood there, emotionless, feeling emotions, but not showing any on his expression. Percy continued to explain why he couldn’t, but the Camp Counselor wasn’t having any. Apparently a new camper was arriving and was a daughter of Poseidon, which meant another threat was added.

That made Nico show a bit of emotion on his face. That meant the gods would have no patience and Poseidon wasn’t on their good side, which meant that the sea god’s word meant nothing to the other Olympians which put their child in danger. All those confusing thoughts ran through his head as Percy shut up. He waved his hand through the screen.

He turned to Nico, his eyes puffy indicating he got what it meant and he may begin to cry. “If it wasn’t this I wouldn’t go,”

“I know,” Nico said, nodding his head.

“Be safe, um, I - goodbye, I’ll see you soon,”

“I’ll see you,” Nico smiles before going on his tiptoes and kissing the son of Poseidon. Percy kissed back before throwing on his shoes and jacket, climbing onto the horse. Nico watched out the window as the father of his child flew out of there new safer home to go into a dangerous situation. 

 

~

If you told Percy this knews when he was 16, he wouldn’t have cared, he would have thought everything was going to be okay, but now - now he was wiser and he knew what it all meant, and now he had a baby on the way and a very amazing relationship of sorts with the son of Hades and he knew what this could all mean.

And, if he wasn’t able to register what was happening in the first 30 minutes of his expedition, he would have plenty of time to sort everything out. He had been on Blackjack for what felt like forever now, and he wasn’t near Camp Half-Blood. 

Percy let his thoughts run wild. He didn’t know what to expect, but all he knew was that this meant, not only was their daughters life at stake, but so was Nico’s, and both those factors made the son of Poseidon freak out.

‘You alright, boss?” Percy hears. He simply replies a no, and that’s the end of that. He doesn’t want to elaborate in fear of breaking down. It was all so much, he couldn’t say it outloud because that meant that it would become real. It would all be more real if he said it outloud.

~

When he arrived at camp, there was a ruckus. A crowd of campers were surrounding a point, and Percy could only seem to think it was the new camper. He asked for Blackjack to land right outside the crowd. He dismounted the pegasus and made his way to the gathering, before he could make it, Chiron was right behind him.

“Please, Young Man, let us have a talk before you go just charging into things,” Chiron said, causing Percy to now direct his attention to the centaur.

“Let’s get the quick run-down, please,” Percy said, his nerves high.

“She is very scared, her name is Makayla Williams and her mother had put her up for adoption when she was born, she has been in foster home to foster home, bringing trouble wherever she went, and that has lead to her having some extreme issues. Her foster father was killed from an accident about a day ago, and she stumbled upon this camp, she was immediately claimed by your father,”

“Wow,” Was all Percy could manage to say. It took him a second to process everything. “That’s. Wow. But um, hate to make this all about me, why am I here?”

“She’s your sister, for one, and secondly, the oceans are stirring, along with the sky, we haven’t heard from Rachel, but she seems to be in a trance recently, could be a prophecy,”

Percy hadn’t thought of the new camper as a sister yet, but even still, he didn’t know how he could help. “Sir, all do respect, if it’s a prophecy, I can’t help, I want to, but you know how those things work, they’re unfair, and unforgiving, and don’t ever change! I want to help, but I have other responsibilities now-”

“I know Percy,” Chiron cut him off. 

“I want to help! I do, she must be so scared, but I can’t-”

“She’s only seven,” 

Percy stopped his rant. “I-” Now he felt like a douche, of course he could help a seven year old. “Okay, I’ll go,”

Percy, feeling like an ass, walked over to Makayla, pushing his way through the crowd. The girl had bright green eyes, freckled skin, and black curly hair pulled back, it seemed to be long, even up in the messy ponytail.

“Everyone, back away,” Percy said, making a beeline for the child. Everyone listened and Percy crouched next to the girl. “Hey,” He whispered, a small smile tracing his lips. 

The child didn’t reply instead just looked up at him with scared eyes.

“It’s okay,” The son of Poseidon said. “I’m technically your brother, and I know things are confusing right now, but I’ll help you through it all, okay?”

She didn’t reply verbally, but did give a small nod, Percy held out his hand and helped the girl through the crowd or campers. “We’ll go back to your new cabin, and I’ll explain everything there, okay?”

Once again, the girl nodded and the children of Poseidon walked back into their cabin.

“Hey,” Percy smiled again, gesturing to a empty bunk, once Tyson, nor himself had ever used. The thin girl, who was clearly starved, sat down on the bed and looked at her feet, her knees covered in dirt, and her white shoes stained. 

“Hi.” Was all she mumbled, looking down.

Percy took a seat next to his half-sister. “I bet you are so confused right now, gods, you don’t even know me,”

The little girl nodded.

“But it’ll make some more sense, but honestly, sometimes I don’t even understand it,” 

The little girl gave a faint smile before it went back to a frown. Percy sat with her in silence for awhile. He let his mind wonder on thirty different thing sbefore decided to go for the, ‘I’ll become the your friend and then explain this to you’ approached.

“Okay, so,” He began, getting off the bed and walking over to a lose board. “There’s some restrictions when it comes to food here, not a lot, but some, and one of those restrictions happen to be jolly ranchers, and I find them amazing, so I always keep some down here, I made it clean, it’s not dirty or anything, but want one?”

Makayla smiled before nodding, accepting the jolly rancher happily, unwrapping it and putting it in her mouth.

“So, your name’s Makayla, right?” Percy asked, following her motions and putting a blue candy in his mouth.

“Uh...yeah, b- but I g-go by uh Mac,”

“Okay, Mac, I’m Percy, and - we can talk about the rest later,” He laughed lightly. “Tell me some things about yourself,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey~~ I hope you seem to enjoy Mac, but if you don't she won't a major character, but she will be mentioned throughout the rest of the story! Sorry if this upsets anyone!!


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

Nico was sitting at home, reading a book, besides him, the house was empty. He was a bit worried and was hoping for Percy to walk through the doors any second now, but he knew, considering it had only been a day, that was an unlikely occurrence.

It was night time for Nico, which meant it was probably the morning for Percy. Nico sighed and closed his book. He didn’t realize how...dependant he had become. Granted, he was fine, he COULD make it, but he didn’t want to. The son of Hades wanted Percy. 

He sighed as he put the baby book up, allowing it to rest on the side table as the Italian pulled himself off the couch. Nico wrapped his hands around his bump, he was a little past six months now.

That was exciting, yet they didn’t even start thinking about names yet, as much as Nico loved his Sister, he would never name his daughter Bianca, at least not for the first name, maybe a middle name, because back in the 30’s and 20’s, Bianca was a more current name back then, but not, Nico didn’t really want to do that, not saying anyone with the name Bianca has a shitty name, but he wouldn’t name his child that, maybe a middle name, not a first.

The son of Hades realized he now had to pee, so he went and did that, washing his hands and drying this off before taking a look in the mirror. He looked like shit. He should take a shower soon, probably after he made dinner. 

Nico didn’t know what he wanted to make, but after a bit of searching he decided cereal would be the best option, so he got some milk and cereal, pouring the cereal in first, just to clarify, and he went back to sit down on the couch. (a/n: Okay, so apparently I am dumb, and I gave them a TV, but I also said how there can be no technology, so these are just… special TV’s…) Nico flipped through a few channels before deciding on some late night show.

He wondered what Percy was doing. It was causing Nico so much anxiety to not know what the hell was going on. He didn’t know if it was something small or something that could hurt the small strange family that Nico was now apart of. 

Just as Nico was about to go absolutely insane, a misty screen appeared in front of him. “Hey Nico,” he heard, the son of Hades jumping slightly before placing his cereal, which was basically done, on the side table.

“Perce, is everything okay? Is it bad? Please tell me it’s less bad than what I’ve been thinking for the last 24 hours.”

“It seems okay,” Percy said, smile lightly, but Nico could see the worry on his face. “Rachel is missing, so there isn’t any telling where she could be or anything prophecy, but this girl is so damaged. She’s been bounced foster home to foster home, she just needs to adjust, I’ll be home soon I think, no telling what the gods are planning though, but so far, I don’t see any immediate danger,” He finished, looking behind him, a girl sound asleep next to him, she was thin and looked grimy, it was clearly morning there.

“By immediate danger you mean..?”

“Nothing that could affect you or the baby,” He said, running a tan hand through his dark hair, clearly just woken up. Nico blushed slightly at how he was included in ‘you and the baby’.

There was a short silence before Nico spoke up again. “How’s everything back at camp?”

The son of Poseidon made a small chuckle before smiling up at Nico. “I didn’t exactly have time to look around, I tried to ease her out of her shyness, relating to her, the whole Smelly Gabe thing finally paid off after - how many years?”

“That’s good,” Nico laughed, wrapping his blanket around him.

“Yeah, I may have a week here at most, just adjusting, I mean it took me literally forever to finally be able to understand everything, and granted, while my first few weeks I was on a quest, I still would be just as confused, especially if I was her age, going through what she did,” Percy’s now serious face went back to a smile as he looked back up at the son of Hades.

“Finally, and entire week without you,”

“Oh my gods,”

“I’m just kidding, idiot,” Nico laughed.

“I know,” Percy laughed lightly. “I’ll miss you,” 

“I’ll miss you, too,” Nico blushed as he saw the girl in the bed behind Percy stir a bit, before resting again. “What do you plan to do?”

“I was thinking of just hanging out with her and slowly introducing other people, slowly removing myself, show her that everyone is like family here, hope she finds friends, and then i’ll be on my way back home,”

“Okay,” Nico smiled, a lot less worried now that he knew there was nothing two dangerous approaching their future. “Oh,” He said, sitting up a bit straighter (a/n: as straight as a gay guy can, you feel me) “I need you to think of baby names,” 

Percy’s face lit up. “Oh! Yes,” Percy smiled. “What were you thinking?”

“Bianca crossed my mind, but I don’t think so,” Nico said, pulling at the fuzz on the blanket, but still staring at the misty screen.

Percy tilted his head. “Why not?”

“Maybe for her middle name, but definitely not a first, I don’t think it’s really appropriate for this day in age,”

“Ah, okay, I like that for a middle name,” Percy said, taking a quick glance at the child when she stirred, but quickly brought his attention back to Nico.

“No, you’re just saying that,” Nico said, shaking his head and leaning back a bit. “I am not playing the dead sister card for this,” Nico was glad that he could talk openly about this now.

“I really think it’s a good idea,” Percy reassured. Percy had just turned 20, which did make Nico feel weird at time, like he was a kid, I mean, he was 17, which made it a three year age difference, which in theory wasn’t that much, but when it was a teenager and a - well - not teenager, it made Nico feel like a child, not as much anymore, but… when it first happened all Nico wanted to do was to become 18. (a/n: thought I would clarify because I have like a time that I want the baby to be born, but I realized for this to happen, Percy needed to of had to turn 20 awhile ago, so sorry for not celebrating it the way I should of) 

“Do you?” Nico asked.

“Yes, I wouldn’t lie about it,”

“Okay, as long as it flows off the tongue with whatever we choose the first name to be,”

“Sounds great, we could get a baby name book,” Percy suggested, half-laughing.

Nico rolled his eyes, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t wake up the younger demigod in the room. “Oh my gods, Perce, no,” He smiled. “I want like a unique name, not like one that was unique at the time, but now it’s over used…”

“Like Jessica?” 

“Almost exactly like Jessica, plus my mind just goes straight to Jessica Rabbit and that’s not a visual I’d prefer to keep away from our daughter,” Nico said, waving his hand around a bit, his face in a smile, but also giving off a disturbed glance.

“Neeks, no,” Percy laughed, covering his eyes, also imagining it. “I don’t ever want to think about that,”

“So Jessica is a no,” Nico laughed.

Percy nodded, slightly laughing. “Yes, Jessica is a no,”

“Glad we agree on that,” Nico said, his hand resting on his stomach, which was hurting his back more and more everyday, Tartarus hurt more, but this was a close second.

Percy began talking again before Nico interrupted him. “It seems someone’s awake now,” Nico smiled, pointing towards the misty screen, the son of Poseidon looking behind him promptly to see the girl sitting up, rubbing her eyes, Nico noticed how ill she looked.

“Oh,” Percy said, turning back towards Nico with a sad smile. “I should get going,”

“Yeah, think of names, because I am about as creative as… as something really not creative,”

“With that metaphor, clearly,” Percy laughed before sighing and turning back behind him. “Hey,” He said, Nico watching through the screen. “I’ll talk to you later, Nico, see you,”

“Of course, see ya,” Nico smiled, waving his hand through the screen, leaving in him completely alone. Did he mind it? Yeah. But was Percy doing something good? Also, yeah, so Nico could manage to be alone for awhile, plus he wanted to catch up with Hazel. He hadn’t seen her in forever. She may even have some name suggestions.

He would call her via Iris Message later, but for now, the son of Hades settled for walking alone to the large bedroom, with the large bed, Percy not there with him. It shouldn’t have been as weird as it was, but it was weird. Nico had grown used to falling asleep, if not with Percy directly by his side, the son of Poseidon was at least in the same building as him, but now, he was alone, and the house felt empty.

~Time Skip bc how do you even write while someone is asleep, like you can’t, and if you can, congratulations, I can not.~

“Hey,” Nico smiled as his half-sister walked into the doorway. Nico had already eaten breakfast and was now wearing a baggy shirt because he was a bit insecure of his bump, mainly because it was weird because well, he was a boy, and he was pregnant. It was… it was just weird. He was happy he was having a daughter, but it was still just, it was weird. 

“How have you been!?” She smiled, wrapping Nico in a hug, happy to see her brother again.

“Good, good, you?” Nico said, hugging her back, they pulled away and Hazel sighed.

“Pretty awesome actually, Frank and I just hit our anniversary and - I’m no expert - but if I had to make a guess, the ring I found in his pocket isn’t another promise ring and I can’t stop thinking of it all,” She said, smiling, taking off her bright coat and hanging it up.

“Wait? Seriously?” Nico asked, a smile spreading over his face. The two siblings walked over to the couch, Nico trying to get comfortable which was easier said than done.

“Yeah, I mean I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I mean, do you know how amazing that would be? I knew I wanted to marry him since I was sixteen! But then I saw the ring and it became so real, and I refuse to let myself get my hopes up, but like - I looked at a wedding dress catalog the other day,”

“Oh, you know he is totally going to ask to marry you, there’s no doubt about it, I knew he wanted to marry you while we were all on the Argo, the way he looked at you, Hazel,” The son of Hades said, and it was the truth. Frank Zhang loved Hazel almost as much, if not equal to Nico.

“Gosh, that was such a long time ago for all of us,”

“Yeah, like -” Nico thought for a moment. “Four - ish years? Give or take?”

Hazel thought for a moment, her eyebrows furrowing. “Yeah, that sounds about right,”

“Glad that’s over,” Nico laughed lightly. 

“Now look at you, you’re literally carrying a baby… how’s all that going anyway?” Hazel asked. It was an innocent question with a loaded answer. Nico decided, just as he always did, to go with the easy answer.

“Pretty good, she’s always keeping me up at night, kicking and such,” Nico sighed, resting a hand on his stomach. “A very picky eater,” Nico added, recounting all the times his daughter rejected all the food he put down his mouth.

“Wait, did you say ‘she’?” Hazel asked, a smile spreading across her face.

“Oh!” Nico said, face palming. “I forgot, she’s a girl!”

Hazel smiled and leaned over to hug her brother. “It’s going to be a girl! That’s so exciting!” She said, breaking away from the hug, resting back into her spot on the sofa.

“I know,” Nico started, his hand going back to rest on his bump. “Perce and I are beyond excited, I’m extremely nervous for how the whole… birthing? Part will work, but I’m sure smoe god or goddess out there will have some drug to make it not hurt as bad as I think it’s going to,” 

“Yeah, I was trying to find something up on that, as I am sure you have already, and I literally found nothing, none of the cases that were recorded were carried to term,”

Nico nodded his head. “Yeah, most of them aborted once they found out,”

“That’s what I had noticed,” Hazel said. “I thought there would be like one case that made it to term, but the only one’s -”

“Were by gods, yeah, I guess I am a first, not sure if I should be honored, or terrified,” Nico laughed, though it was very forced, but the son of Hades had gotten much better at faking laughs after the last four years.

“I think you should be a little bit of both,” Hazel said. “How are you and Percy, though?”

Nico let out a chuckle. “Very good question, I’m not exactly sure where we stand with each other. We sleep in the same bed, we kiss, we - i’ll let you imagine - we basically act like we’re together, pretty much, but neither one of us have asked, or made any clarification or anything! But besides it all being painfully frustrating, he seems happy to be with me and her,” Nico said gesturing to their daughter.

Nico ountinued. “And I’m extremely happy he’s here, but now he’s all the way at camp, and that sucks,”

“Yeah, I guess another question I have is… how do you feel about Percy?”

Nico blushed. He hated talking about crushes and shit, he hadn’t had much experience in it, he went from Percy, to Will, and back to Percy, there was one kid in Nico’s third grade class that the son of Hades now can see that it was a crush, at the time, he didn’t know that though.

“I mean, I - I - I guess I like him,” Nico mumbled. Hazel raised her eyebrow. “Fine,” Nico sighed. “I really like him, but it’s whatever,”

“Oh my gods! You love Percy!” She gasped. 

Nico hid his head in his hands. “That is NOT what I said,”

“Whatever,” Hazel laughed.

There was a small silence that the son of Hades broke. “What’s been going on around camp?”

Hazel thought for a moment. “Reyna has a girlfriend now, no one knows who she is, but there was a girl in Reyna’s room, wrapped in sheets when Frank walked in, and Reyna hid the girls face, and it was hilarious,” Hazel laughed lightly. “He came to me and started apologizing because he almost saw some other girl naked,” Hazel stopped laughing as much, but she still had an amused tone in her voice. “I know I shouldn’t find it as funny as I do, but he was so afraid I would be mad at him,”

“He is too sweet,” Nico laughed, thinking about how Frank must have looked. “But I never knew Reyna liked girls,”

“Really?” Hazel asked, her laughing stopping almost completely, but a smile still on her face. “Her and Thalia were a thing for awhile, but there schedules never met up so they ended up splitting, but they were a power couple, a very dangerous one,”

“I can imagine,” the son of Hades laughed. “Both very intimidating badass women, and I never want to be in either of their lines of fire, definitely not both,”

“Yeah, but besides that, nothing really, just little things, annoying banters, do you know much about what’s going on at Camp Half-Blood, I heard there was a little girl?” Hazel asked.

The son of Hades nodded. “I don’t know much, but she’s a daughter of Poseidon, so Percy is helping her get adjusted for awhile, she could literally change the entire future of out child so we’re both really worried, because earlier the gods told us if our baby was a threat they would 0 um - basically kill her, so we’re just both worried about it all. From what I can see, the girl seems fine, just shaken up, she’s had a hard life and being a demigod just made it all worse,”

“Nico, that’s horrible, is that still a possibility?” Hazel asked, completely ignoring the information about her original question. 

“Yeah, as soon as they can see the future, they’ll decide if she can live or not, but between you and I, I don’t give a fu - rick about what they say, I won’t let them touch her,” Nico sighed. “I just don’t know how to make sure they don’t,”

“Gods, that’s horrible,”

“Yeah, it really is,” Nico looked down at his hands and pulled at his fingers, a nervous habit he had developed over the years.

How would he keep his daughter safe from the gods? What power did he really have over them? Would this all lead to heartbreak?


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's lit.

Nico woke up with the familiar feeling of nausea sitting in his stomach. He quickly climbed out of his king sized bed that was cold without the other body there. He opened up the bathroom door and hurled his dinner from the night before, which he ate with Percy, though the son of Poseidon was eating breakfast at the time. 

Nico began to slightly panic, believing something was wrong with their daughter, that the nectar was no longer working, until the son of Hades simply remembered he was so tired, he just forgot to take the delicious drink after his meal.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the pregnant boy stood up and walked over to the sink. He looked himself in the mirror and sighed, grabbing at his toothbrush and brushing his teeth. He washed the taste of vomit out of his mouth, and then lifted up his - Percy’s - shirt and examined his baby bump. He was almost seven months, but still had a week until that milestone, but it was just crazy.

Regular, normal things were getting more difficult. He could no longer tie his shoes, or make his bed or even grab something to low or above him. He could, but not easily, anyway.

Today, Nico had an appointment with the Roman Apollo campers, who weren’t pissed off at him, to do a check-up on the baby, while the son of Hades did miss Dr.Holt, he knew there was no way he could just drive to New York everytime he needed a check up, and he also knew he needed to get an ultrasound soon.

He did wish the son of Poseidon would be here for it, but the green-eyed boy was still busy with the other camper. Nico felt weird about the whole situation. He liked Percy, yes, but there was a stronger emotion mixing with that. More than just like, but that’s not possible, because it’s been seven months of the pregnancy, and they weren’t even ‘together’ for that long.

Yet, all Nico wanted to do was to crawl next to Percy and snuggle him until the moon came back up as the sun set. Which, was not very productive, but Nico was never usually productive. He, before he got pregnant, spent most his days laying in bed… with Will, but that minor detail wasn’t all that important to think about right now.

But, Nico is Nico, so of course he thought about it.

What was Will doing right now? How was he? Not that Nico wanted to know so he could get back with him, but there was this small part of him that wanted to know. While, he no longer could see a future with the son of Apollo, he did once upon a time, want to marry him. There wasn’t a doubt in nico's mind that if he and Percy hadn’t of slept together, he and Will could have gotten married together and been perfectly happily, but luckily for Nico, he didn’t believe in soulmates.

So, it was a natural response to want to know how he was doing. Will was once his whole life, but now… it’s Percy, and their daughter, and it was crazy to think about. And, while Nico wanted to remorse about his past relationship as he sat back down in bed, he couldn’t…

He had Percy now and Percy was so perfect. Everything about him, of course he missed Will, but never did he want him back. Not since the entire thing went down. Nico knew he would always love Will, but never ever love him the same way he used to, or the way he loves Percy now. 

Wait.

Nico doesn’t love Percy. 

He feels a similar feelings.

But, there’s no way he loves him.

It’s not possible.

Nico’s train of thought is broken when a screen pops up in front of him, it’s the one and only savior of Olympus.

“Hey,” Percy greets, the sun was down and Percy was sitting outside in front of the lake.

“Hi,” Nico smiles, sitting up a bit. “Why are you outside? The Harpies are going to get you,”

“We’ve, the harpies and I, have worked out a bit of a deal,” Percy laughed lightly, leaning against a rock, yawning slightly.

“Hm, that’s definitely interesting, how was your day, besides making a deal with flesh eaters,”

Percy laughed at Nico’s metaphor. “That’s great, di Angelo, pretty good, I think I can head home soon, I’ll head out in the morning, but I want to say goodbye to everyone first, the kid just went to sleep and I want to be there when she wakes up, I told her I had to get back soon, and she seemed pretty okay with it,”

“Has she made any friends?” Nico asked, genuinely interesting in the daughter of Poseidon. 

“Yeah, she’s bonding nicely with the Ares kids, which is.. Alarming. Anyway, your day? Even though it just started,”

“Good, I think I’m going to the Apollo kids today, I forgot to take some nectar and had some morning sickness, so I want to make sure everything’s okay with that, but besides that, nothing I haven't told you about already…”

Percy sighed lightly, “I wish I could be there in time, I miss both of you so much,”

“We miss you, too,” Nico says, looking down at the blanket resting on his lap. He plays with the material, blushing slightly.

There was a small silence, not awkward, just that, they had called once in the morning and once in the night for the past two weeks, so there just wasn’t much to say. 

Like usual, Percy broke the silence. “So I was thinking, for maybe a middle name,” Percy began.

Nico looked up form the blanket he was fiddling with, showing Percy he had his full attention.

“I was thinking Maria, after your mother, it’s a really pretty name, and I personally find it better as a middle name, and if you like it, we can just kind of build off of it,”

Nico gave a goofy smile and nodded. “I like that,” he nodded slightly. “I like it a lot, honestly, erm, okay so we’re hyphenating names? I’d be fine if we do or don’t, she could be a Jackson, a di Angelo, or Jackson-di Angelo or di Angelo-Jackson, i’ve never really thought to much of a last name, but I didn’t know if you did, so I was just wondering, we have the middle I think, Maria, and now we need the first and last,”

Percy pondered on this for a moment before breathing out slightly. “I think we should hyphen, but I don’t really mind either Jackson-di Angelo or di Angelo-Jackson, because having the ‘di’ in front makes more sense, and in a way sounds better but -”

“At the same time,” Nico finished. “Jackson-di Angelo, just sounds better, I know, that’s what I was thinking,” he laughed lightly, Percy joining him. (a/n: okay guys, so i like Jackson-di Angelo, but I need to know which one you guys prefer,)

“We’ll figure it out,” Percy laughed, picking up sand and letting it run through his fingers, landing back on the shore.

“Yeah, I was thinking about it,” Nico began. “And it’s almost going to be seven months,” Nico smiled. “Which means, two more months, and she’s going to be born,”

Percy smiled wider than Nico if that was even possible. “Oh my gods, she’s going to be like - like a little person,”

“Just walking around,” Nico continued. “She’s going to learn how to talk, and walk,”

“And do human things, but she’ll be tiny,”

“And then we get to watch her grow up, and be a human, that we like … created,”

Percy smiled. “It’s insane,”

“It is,” Nico smiled back. They stared into each other’s eyes, just smiling and breathing, Nico tucked a piece of his dark hair behind his ear. If they were together, they would have probably kissed, but, unfortunately, they weren’t, so they just gay-zed at each other (pun intended)

“I,” Nico began, then cleared his throat. “I should really go erm, get some breakfast,”

“Mhm,” Percy said, his face flushing. “You should,”

“Yeah,” Nico said, about to wave through the mist.

“Wait, neeks?” Percy said.

“Mhm?”

“Nice shirt,” Percy said with a gigantic goofy smile, then swiped through the screen.

Nico looked down at the shirt he was wearing, a big one, definitely Percy’s, a dolphin on it. Nico’s face flushed as he stood up to go make his food.

He cooked up some waffles, not really paying too much attention to them, he honestly just wanted anything to put in his stomach to avoid some risk with their daughter, who’s middle name was now Maria.

Nico smiled at that. He found the son of Poseidon so sweet and sentimental and dorky. Nico ate breakfast while watching end of the fucking world, (a/n: ignoring the no technology rule, camp jupiter is more advanced, okay?)

After breakfast, Nico felt like he was literally going insane. Yes, he could walk out of this house and do whatever he wanted to, but he found himself terrified. Nights before, he was reading on horrible things that had happened to pregnant demigods, which wasn’t the best idea, but a lot of them all happened outside of the comfort of the pregnant girls homes.

One literally had the child ripped out of her, and Nico made the decision, he was just going to sit in the comfort of his home and invite people over. And, he would do that, but he didn’t want to keep calling Reyna and Hazel over, mainly for the reason they had lives, and he also didn’t like anyone else, so he chose to just go ‘stir crazy’ as some may say. 

Plus, he knew he had a few hours until the appointment, which was worrying him, but he chose to get over it and just hold his weapon close to his hip.

He paced back and forth for awhile, but that made his back hurt. So, he then took a shower, and he realized he really wanted a chair in the shower, but didn’t care enough to go get one. 

After his shower, he changed into a sweater, blue, and some joggers. They were softer than usual and Nico enjoyed that. He wasn’t sure where he found them, but he didn’t care. He slid ons ome socks and walked back into the living room, passing the nursery and giving a small smile, but choosing not to go in.

A few more hours dragged on, and it was time for his appointment. He grabbed his sword, which looked a little strange with his large bump, and walked outside, carefully looking around.

He kept trying to tell himself that the chances of someone or something getting him was so rare, but that didn’t ease him at all.

Once he got to the Apollo campers, he let out a small sigh of relief, loosening the grip on his sword. He walked into the tent/infirmary, and was greeted by a boy with fire red hair and freckles. “Hello, how are y -” The boy looked down at Nico. “Oh, you must be Nico,” he laughed. “Sorry, didn’t mean to react this way, just a bit shocking, di Angelo? Right?”

Nico nodded. “Uh yeah,” Nico couldn’t blame the child of Apollo for being shocked. “That’s my name,”

The red-head laughed. “Okay, right this way, we don’t have a way of getting an image, sorry, but we can feel around and see how their doin’,”

“Okay, sounds good,”

Nico was slightly upset he didn’t get a picture, but it was fine, as long as his and Percy’s daughter was fine, picture or not, he would be happy.

The test went smoothly, he lifted up his sweater and the camper, Liam, moved his hands around Nico’s bump and said everything was good. Nico told the doctor about how he skipped Nectar, Liam said it would be fine and that one round of morning sickness wouldn’t hurt anything.

He also said the baby should be getting more restless, kicking more, which Nico agreed with completely, remembering the past few nights where his little girl wouldn’t let him get a wink of sleep.

Liam also said Nico needed to try and eat more little snacks. Apparently, while three meals a day should be enough, given all the circumstances. One being the fact it was the grandchild of two big three children, and that he was male, and that Nico was already not exactly a healthy person, it made the circumstances different and the three meals he was eating wasn’t enough.

Nico was given more Nectar and told he was due on December 7-14th. Nico smiled at that and couldn’t wait to tell Percy the news. 

After the end of it all, Nico covered up his stomach and made the terrifying walk back home. It was quite beautiful outside, the sun was setting and everyone who was living in Camp was heading back home as the sun disappeared and the moon came up, next to thousands upon thousands of stars.

Nico always had a special love for the sky.

When Nico got home, he tossed his sword genty against the wall by the door, running his fingers through his hair, and sighing. He walked back into the kitchen, putting his Nectar in the fridge and pulling out things to make broccoli and cheese - which sounded weird, but he was pregnant, okay?

He steamed the broccoli and then finished making the meal, he was proud of himself for the healthy option. Once the food was done, he ate it, then drank nectar. It was a schedule he was getting very used too. He washed his plate and the pot he used to make his dinner. He then brushed his teeth and went to bed.

>><<

Nico woke up from his sleep to pitch black darkness, it had to be around midnight, he felt something moving next to him, wrapping him up. Nico began to stir, but was quickly reassured with a voice. 

“M’it’s just me,” Said a voice that was no other than Percy’s. Nico smiled to himself even through his tired eyes.

“Perce?” He asked, eyes closed and his voice low, the threat of going back to sleep always present. “When did you get home?”

“Mmm a second ago,” He said, his hand now braced over Nico’s stomach. 

Nico kissed his shoulder, a smile still on his face. “M’glad your back,”


	25. chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 25 chapter woooooo!

Nico was mixing pancake batter, something he and his mother used to make before everything went down in Italy, as Percy sat on the counter, wearing only gray joggers. They were both still tired, and even after seven months of drinking no coffee, Nico still found himself wanting some.

“How was your trip home?” Nico asked, still mixing the ingredients. 

“Boring, I’m really glad to be home,” Percy said, yawning and stretching. Nico smiled at the word ‘home’. A word Nico didn’t believe he had for the longest time and now he felt like he was there. And he really liked it. Loved it.

“Scared me half to death last night, by the way,”

Percy laughed tiredly. “Yeah, my bad, you were just really warm,” During this sentence, percy had removed himself from the counter and wrapped his arms around Nico, resting them under his bump, resting his chin on Nico’s shoulder. “You’re surprisingly warm, you know that?”

Nico let out a snort. “Is that a compliment?”

Percy smiled. “Yes, it is,”

Nico smiled and turned his head slightly and Percy kissed his cheek before the son of Hades could react. Nico just laughed and stopped mixing, turning completely around so he was facing Percy. 

Nico smiled and then Percy followed after him. Nico got on his tip toes and connecting lips with Percy, it was a quick kiss, just calm and innocent, but it was great, Nico couldn’t think of anything better than good morning, domestic, sweet kisses with Percy Jackson. 

“Now go or we’ll starve,”

“Can we just starve for a little bit?” Percy asked, leaning down and kissing Nico again. Nico laughed and blushed slightly. He wasn’t sure what he was blushing at, but he was blushing.

“No, now please go so i can make food?”

Percy pouted out a lip and sighed and then kissed Nico on the forehead and walked away back to the counter. “It’s not my fault you’re absolutely irresistible and oh very kissable, did you see that? I rhymed, hand me my poetry degree,”

“You’re a sap, granted, a hot sap, but a sap,” Nico laughed, pouring the batter onto the griddle.

“You know it,” Percy laughed. “Do you know how to make shapes?”

Nico laughed and looked at Percy in dissbelief. “Seriously?”

“Dead serious, they taste so much better that way,” Percy reasoned. “And I really want a octopus shaped pancake,”

“I’m almost positive I can make an octopus pancake, Perce, and mickey mouse, a very strange looking dinosaur, and a snowman,” Nico laughs, now pouring the batter in an octopus shape. “They will all look like they were dropped on the head when they were younger, but I can do it,”

Percy smiled “Yes, thank you, the more octopus-ie the be -” Percy was cut off by Nico laughing.

“Are you aware of what you just said,” Nico laughed, making a variety of different shaped pancakes while the octopus cooked.

Percy began laughing as his cheeks were tinted red. “Oh, gods, no not like that - this is why that saying exists ‘think before you speak’, and it’s why is rhymes, if it rhymes it’s true,”

“Oh, gods, I can’t believe you said that, that’s great, Percy, absolutely fabulous,”

Percy continued laughing, his head in his hands, “I can be a dingus sometimes,”

“Oh, but you’re my dingus,” Nico smiled, not really realizing what he said. Luckily Percy didn’t point it out and cause Nico too much embarrassment. 

|time skip|

After the pancakes were cooked and done, Percy ate his octopus shaped one, along with many others, Nico eating around the same, a little more than he usually would because he tried to listen to what the son of Apollo, Liam, had told him.

After breakfast, he drank some Nectar to avoid any sickness in the future. After breakfast, Percy had cleaned the dishes, then the son of Poseidon went to take a shower while Nico chose to put a load of clothes in the washer. 

When Percy was done with his shower, and there was nothing else to do, Nico decided to grab a checkers set from the closet and bring it to the bed. Percy smiled at the sight of his boyfriend.

“I suck at this game, you know?” Percy laughed as Nico sat criss crossed at the end of the bed, opening the box.

“So do I, but I’m really bored, and I’ve literally looked for anything to do, but I can’t find anything, so, red or black?” Nico laughed, his brown eyes full of life, something Percy hasn’t seen in a long time. Of course, he wasn’t sad for the past while, but he hadn’t had this light in his eye in forever.

Percy hoped it never left.

“Red,”

 

Nico continued to set up the thing, sorting out the pieces, and he started, moving it in the safest place possible.

Percy shook his head and moved his in the same spot but on the opposite side. It continued like that, taking the safest moves for a few moments before Nico managed to take one of Percy’s pieces and things got a little more intense, but there was always a laugh in the end.

It was Percy’s turn and he was pondering a move, Nico didn’t like the silence so he brought up conversation. “Have you thought of first names?”

Percy smiled as he moved his piece. “No, but I think we should go with di Angelo-Jackson, first name, maria, di Angelo-Jackson,”

“Sounds good to me, could name her after a goddess or something,”

“The only goddess I care for is Hestia, and Hestia Maria sounds weird,” Percy laughed as Nico pondered his next move.

“True, and I don’t want to name our daughter after a bitch,”

“You don’t even need to say the name for me to know who you’re talking about,” Percy laughed, eyes on the board. “Hannah,”

“Eh, I knew a girl way back in Italy who really got on my nerves named Hannah, like I barely remember that place, but gods do I remember Hannah, ‘Nico,’” The italian began in a different tone. “ ‘why aren’t you paying attention to me? Nico why don’t you ever pick up on things? Nico don’t you like me?’ No, honey, I’m just a very gay ten year old but just haven’t figured it out yet,”

Percy laughed as his boyfriend made hand gestures and moved his head back and forth as he used the voice he did. “Okay, so not Hannah,” Percy laughed as Nico finally moved his checker.

“Alyssa?” Percy asked.

“Alyssa Maria, eh,”

Percy sighed. “Yeah, plus I think we should have something a little more personal,”

“Yeah, like, your mom’s name?” Nico asked.

“Sally? No, I love my mother but so many little girls in kid’s shows are named ‘Sally,”

“Okay, what’s your grandmother’s name? Mom’s middle name?”

“Mom’s middle name is Estelle, so was my grandmother’s, and I don’t think so, it’s a pretty name, but -”

“Not for our daughter,” Nico finished, still smiling, his eyes still bright.

“Exactly,” Percy smiled, taking one of Nico’s piece. Nico retaliated, moving his one piece and being able to double jump and take two of Percy’s. 

“Needs to be something special, like, she’s already my entire fu - freaking world, but naming her like - after a planet or something is dumb,”

“She’s like a star, a perfect star,”

“Zoella,” Nico said. “Like Zoë,”

Percy recalled everything, the quest and how it led to so much more, the losses of everyone, including Bianca, and knowing it was more than just after a constellation. It was about that entire quest, and still after one brave ass warrior. 

“I think it’s perfect, absolutely perfect,” Percy smiled.

“Really?” Nico asked, clearly skeptical that Percy was lying. 

“Positive, Neeks, I really like it, a lot actually,”

“So that’s it?” Nico laughed. “We just like - did something?”

“Zoella Maria di Angelo-Jackson,”

Nico smiled. “Due roughly around December 7th,”

“Wait, seriously?” Percy smiled as Nico moved his checker.

“Yeah, Liam, he was the kid that helped me, told me she would be born in like two months now? Around the seventh - fourteenth, and I fell asleep before I could tell you, and yeah, but what is it? October eighth?”

“Yeah!” Percy eyes were bright and his smile even brighter, “that’s like, two months!”

“And then we have a daughter, well we have a daughter now, but she’ll be all out and we’ll be able to hold her, and feed her and play with her and all the other things parents do with babies!” Nico smiled, a hand on his stomach.

“And then she’ll go to college, and we’ll be old and gray and our daughter will be starting her own life, having her own children,”

Nico made a ‘agh’ noise. “No, please, stop, I can’t think about that yet, no stop,” Nico laughed, but was honestly mortified of the idea. He also smiled at the fact Percy thought about being old and gray with him.

“I can’t think about that ever again because I might cry,” Percy laughed, moving his piece, Nico nodded in agreement.

“Yes,” He laughed. “Please never bring that up ever again,” Nico said, a hand now placed against his heart for dramatic effect. “That physically hurt me, Perce,”

“Sorry, - but I can’t stop thinking about how babies turn to toddlers, toddlers to kids, kids to teens, teens to adults and -”

“Oh, gods, Perce stop,” Nico laughed, then through a checker at him. “I don’t want to think about that right now, not now, not ever, not when it’s happening,”

“Okay let’s talk about something else, or I won’t be able to stop and you seem to have a very good throwing arm,”

“Yes please, subject change, do they have school here? Lie a regular, basic education system but for dyslexic kids, because I know they don’t have one at camp calf blood, they seem more family friendly here,” Nico said as Percy moved another piece, not paying too much attention to it.

“Yeah, I think so, and she should go, my complete and utter hatred shouldn’t be what stops her from becoming the best scientist the world has ever seen,”

Nico laughed and moved his piece, taking out one of Percy’s. (Nico was currently winning, but who was really counting) “Exactly,and we should stay here, it’s plenty big, the yard is nice, and it’s safe, even though I still think we could get attacked in die, the chances of that becoming a reality is slightly less and I just really like it here,”

“Staying here is good, but we should get like a dog or something one day,”

“A dog?”

“Yeah, I like dogs, and we both remember Mrs. O’Reilly, she was cool, but we should just get a smaller dog,”

“Let’s have the baby first and then we can see about adding a dog, but when we decide to get a dog, l want a beagle,”

“Never pegged you for a beagle guy,”

“I’m full of surprises,” Nico laughed, Percy finally moving his piece, setting up for Nico to make the perfect jump and taking out Percy’s last piece. “I win,”

“I knew you would,” Percy sighed happily, moving the set to the floor. Making sure not to damage it, but pulled the other boy into his arms, kissing his head. “I sucl at checkers, and I am worse at chess,”

“I’d like to see you solve a rubix cube,” Nico laughed in Percy’s arms, smiling contently in his arms. 

“I can’t solve a rubix cube, so there is nothing to see, I know it’s actually easier than it seems or whatever, but I can’t figure it out,”

“Yeah,” Nico said, still leaning on Percy’s chest. A warm silence was in the air for a moment. Not uncomfortable or awkward, just happy, both boys thinking of the future and Zoella. 

“I love you,” Nico says. It was the truth. He didn’t know what else to say.”It’s true, I do, and that rhymed so obviously i’m not lying, and it’s okay if you don’t love me back, it really is,” Nico said, pushing off of Percy slightly to look into his eyes. “But I need you to know, I love you, I love you so much it hurts sometimes because, you’re a dork, and you say things without thinking, and you’re supportive when you don’t have to be,”

“Nico,” Percy began, seeing as Nico was getting worked up over this. Yet, Nico continued on his rant.

“And you’re there for me, and you care, you care and I see it, every little thing you do, things i’m not sure you realize you’re doing sometimes, I see them, and I love you for that, but I also love you because you’re you! I mean, when you found out about all of this in the very beginning, you didn’t get mad, you didn’t freak out, you stayed calm,”

“Neeks,” Percy smiled.

“And when I had no place to go, you offered your home, granted your mom’s name is on the lease, but still,” Nico laughed lightly. “And then you moved across the country and that’s the big things, those are the obvious reasons why i love you, but if we got into all the small reasons, like how you smell, and how you have this weird thing of sitting on counters? I don’t get it, but for some reason, you love it, or don’t realize you’re doing it, and so many more small reasons that I will never not love, and Percy, I love you,”

There was a silence.

It was killing Nico.

Then Percy spoke.

“Gods, Nico, I love you so much I can’t explain,” Percy smiled and watched as the worried look on Nico’s face disappeared. “I love you because you remained calm, because you fought for this, for us basically, and even if you didn’t always let it show, I knew what it was doing and you were still so brave,”

“I love you, because when you get mad, you do this thing with your nose that can bring a straight man to his knees with how adorable and hot it is like sometimes I want to just piss you off a tiny bit just to see it, but then I feel bad and so I wait for something else to piss you off,”

“Sometimes when you yawn, you look like a little kitten, and it’s oddly weird how much i love that about you, and you never let anything that happened in your past, hold you back, ever, and that’s so amazing,”

“Nico, I knew I loved you the day you stormed out of Olympus for our daughter, so I’ve loved you for a long time, so of course, I’m going to say it back, and I’m going to mean it, and I love you, and I don’t plan to ever stop loving you,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys, please don't be a silent reader, i love reading compliments, even if they aren't always the most positive, but keep in mind i have a v fragile self esteem, and not really so if you have something to critique, please tell me so i can become a better writer


	26. Chapter 26

a/n: trigger warning: mentions of losing a baby. ||don’t stress it too much, love you!||

Nico woke up and had never felt more pain. Okay, maybe that wasn’t completely true, but it was a pretty large amount of pain. It was the middle of the night and he couldn’t go back to sleep it hurt so bad.

Of course, this worried Nico, not because it hurt, but because that could mean something was wrong with Zoella, and then he could lose the baby.

I mean, the due date was approaching soon, and that meant things would be happening soon that would hopefully naturally allow the baby to come out and it all stressed Nico out, but he heard stress can cause preterm labor and he didn’t want that so he stopped his rant and took a deep breath.

He didn’t want to wake Percy up but he had to try and find out what was wrong with his - back? Stomach? He didn’t know, something around that area hurt like a mother fucker. He pulled the blanket off himself.

He looked down at his legs and there was dark red blood.

He saw this before, in a film. He remembered hating the thought. The thought of… no. this wasn’t possible he didn’t no. no. nope. This -. No, please, no.

Nico felt something on his shoulder and turned around, he had tears running down his face he was sure. When he looked around, he didn’t see Percy, just heard his voice and felt his hand, but he didn’t see him, not even an outline.

“Nico?” It was low and confused.

“Nico, what’s wrong?”

Nico couldn’t make words, he just turned back around, his legs hung over the bed and cried. 

“Nico? Wake up,” Percy’s voice came.

Wake up? It was a dream. He was fine. He just had to open his eyes and it would all be over. It would be over. Zoella was fine, the baby was fine, he just had to open his eyes.

He managed, and he was still sitting up, but when he looked down, there was no blood, his eyes were still wet with tears, but this time when he turned around, he saw Percy’s outline, it was hard to see him, but he was there. 

“Nico, are you okay, what happened?” His voice was low and sleepy.

Nico was still gasping for air, his chest tight as well as his throat. “I can’t - I can’t -”

Percy pulled the covers off himself and brought himself closer to Nico. “Hey, it’s okay, just breathe, it’s okay, you don’t have to talk right now, it’s okay, just focus on breathing, in,” Percy took a breath in. “And out,” And Percy did just that to demonstrate, though nico was having a problem replicating it.

“I - I - I - it was horrible, I just had to - and I didn’t know - and it was everywhere, and I -”

“Nico,” Percy said, wanting to wrap the shorter boy in his arms, but knew it was probably better to not, especially while he was freaking out. “It’s okay, okay? Just calm down, I know it’s hard, but just try, okay?”

Nico nodded and started focusing on his breathing. He reached his hand out for Percy’s and felt his warmth, and that helped a lot. It rooted him to the world, and he was able to calm himself so he was softly crying. Eventually, he trusted himself to speak.

“Sorry, i didn’t want to wake you,” Nico was finally able to say. “It was just, there was blood and I thought I had lost her and it was, so horrible,”

“Hey, don’t apologize, okay? It’s okay, It’s okay, everything’s fine,” Nico’s hand subconsciously went down to his stomach, wanting to be able to feel his daughter kick, or do anything. Sometimes, dreams mean something and that scared the shit out of Nico.

Nico leant forward and placed his head on Percy’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, I really am, you need sleep, I’m sorry,”

Percy wrapped his arms around Nico, pulling the Italian into his chest. “No, stop being sorry for it, I’m sorry it happened,” Percy said as he kissed the top of Nico’s head.  
Nico continued crying quietly (a/n: my q key was kind of broken for awhile but it just fixed, this is amazing news for me.) into Percy’s shoulder, trying not to think of the dream he just had, because it was so awful.

A few minutes past and the two boys were now laying down, cuddling again in each other’s arms. Nico’s sobs were no longer audible, more like just silent tears rolling down his cheeks.

He didn’t expect it to mess him up so bad, a dream like that, he knew it would suck, having dreams about Zoella, unless they were good dreams, but demigods never had good dreams, but either way, he didn’t expect to break down into sobs.

He slowly fell asleep, before or after Percy, the son of Hades didn’t know, he was just glad that he didn’t resume his previous dream.

||in the morning||

Percy woke up first but didn’t have the heart to move because his boyfriend looked so damn adorable. Percy was baffled at how when he wasn’t even trying, Nico managed to look hot and adorable, and perfect all at once.

It was amazing and he literally seemed perfect.

Percy brushed his thumb against Nico’s pale cheek and let a smile trace his lips. He then kissed his forehead lightly. Which lead into his smiling again and then resting his chin on Nico’s head. Nico just made him happy, it was hard to describe, it was easy with him.

It was comfortable with him, no pressures of anything, nothing. Just, amazing. 

Only occasionally would the son of Poseidon get a wave of anxiety about the fact he was going to be a father soon.

Then he saw what a good dad Nico would be and everything was better, because they could do it. It could happen. Everything would be fine.

Eventually, Nico woke up, which was good because percy’s arm was falling asleep, though he would never admit it because once against, Nico is Nico and Nico is perfect. That basically summed up Percy’s life in the past few months.

“G’morning,” Nico mumbled, Percy used this short moment of Nico moving a bit to slip his arm out from under him.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” Percy smiled, kissing the top of Nico’s head, which lead Nico to smile, which made Percy’s heart literally explode.

Nico sighed for a moment before sitting up, his bare shoulders exposed while blanket covered the rest of him up. Percy sat up next to him, tilting his head slightly. “Hey, are you okay?”

Nico looked down like he was thinking. He took a deep breath and began talking. “Do you ever just wake up and feel like, - like something really bad is going to happen. Almost as if - if you get up, the world is going to come crashing down,”

Percy was a little shocked by what Nico had just said but didn’t react that way. “Not really, most of my feelings come from dreams, is that what this is about?”

“I sure hope not, plus it’s not like that, it’s more like it’s already set in stone, like when a hurricane is coming,” Nico said, turning his head to look at Percy. Percy just listened carefully, nodding him on.

“And it forms in the ocean,” Nico continued, using hand gestures. “And you can’t stop it, it may turn or die down a bit, but ultimately, it’s going to hit, I feel like that, like the storm is about to hit, the hammer? Is that the metaphor the hammer is about to fall, or something like that,”

Percy kissed Nico’s shoulder. “Is there anything we can do?”

“I guess eat breakfast,” Nico sighed, but smiled at the end. “I’m probably being ridiculous, it’s most likely because of the dream, and I don’t feel like cooking so I say we eat cereal,”

“Cereal sounds great,” Percy said, still slightly concerned for Nico. He seemed pretty concerned, which made percy concerned. Percy never really had gut feelings, but Nico might be on to something, and Percy wasn’t going to deny that the feelings could be real.

Nico smiled. “Okay, we need to order more food soon, however you do that here,” Nico said as he walked out the doorway. He began raising his voice so Percy could hear from the bedroom. “Do they have grocery store here?”

“I don’t know,” Percy called back out. “And I don’t think you order groceries,” he lowered his voice sense he was behind Nico now, who was pulling out two bowls. 

“Can you grab the cereal?” Nico mumbled before carrying on the previous conversation. “And I don’t know, groceries wasn’t a problem in Camp Half Blood, just ate when you were supposed too, if you wanted a snack or something, sucked for you, you know?”

“Yes I do know, I’m very aware of how dumb that rule is, because I was always hungry around midnight, and the Stolls couldn’t always get me food, and if was very unfortunate,”

“First world problems,” Nico laughed as he sat across from Percy at the table.

||time skip, thank you for still reading guys like damn||

It was just after dinner now and Percy was sitting on the couch while Nico sat next to him, pulling at his fingers. Percy had noticed that the son of Hades had been antsy all say, like he was waiting for something to happen, the other shoe to drop.

Percy had tried his best to calm Nico down, but nothing seemed to work, eventually they just sat on the couch and watched TV. The son of Hades was still very jumpy but Nico just had to trust it would get better and be there for him and whatever he was thinking.

Mid-show, there was a loud crash.

Percy and Nico both looked back at the source of the noise and there stood Hermes. Percy heard Nico sigh before speaking. “I told you something bad was going to happen,”

Percy felt Nico reach for his hand, the son of Hades squeezed the tan hand and his breath started getting faster, but was still calm.

“The gods are awaiting you,” Hermes said, his shoes fluttering, making it awfully hard for the son of Poseidon to focus. 

Nico simply shook his head and Percy let out a small laugh, but nothing about this situation was funny. Nothing at all he was laughing through the pain and/or the idiocy of the gods.

“No,” Percy laughed in the same tone. “Tell them we can’t make it. We’re busy, not available, they can fuck off,” The word felt foreign in Percy’s mouth after not swearing sense the baby could start hearing.

“I won’t, I’m staying,” Nico said, one hand on the bump, the other joined with Percy’s.

“Well,” Hermes chuckled. “You don’t really have much of a choice,”

The god sighed, lifted his hand like he was about to teleport the two boys but Nico stopped him.

“No, don’t do that, I don’t know how it’ll affect her,” Nico said, standing up, ready to fucking punch the god in his immortal face.

“Well, Mr. di Angelo, Mr. Jackson, I don’t think that will matter,”

Percy felt his heart sink. Nico froze. “No,” He said. “No, we’re not teleporting, I don’t care if we have to ride a damn pegasus all the way to New York, we’re not teleporting or shadow traveling or doing anything to the equivalent!” Nico said, more like yelled. Percy stood up to join him.

“We’re not going,”

Hermes just sighed before snapping his fingers, the feeling of cold surrounded the two demigods. Nico held onto his stomach, hoping that it would help at all, Percy just started getting more pissed. 

Damn fucking gods.


	27. 027

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)

When Nico felt more grounded he looked over to look at Percy, anything to find him comfort. “Perce,” He said, his breathing pattern becoming irregular. “I’m freaking out, what if -” Nico couldn’t bring himself to finish the rest of the sentence. 

Percy was at a loss for words. He didn’t want to promise Nico anything because Percy didn’t know. So, he just took Nico’s hand. “We won’t let them touch her, okay?” Was all he could say, because that was true.

It was now Nico’s turn to be flabbergasted. (a/n: i love that word) He didn’t know what else to do, so he walked, hermes already doing whatever he was doing inside the palace-thing. 

The two boys walked hand in hand as he saw the gods sitting in their thrones. Even Hades was there, so Nico knew, at that sight, they had come to a decision, the one thing that would get in the way of Nico being able to try and give birth to his and Percy’s daughter. It was this.

“Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo,” Zeus greeted, his voice echoing against the walls. Nico was mad at this point. He knew this was one of the last fights he would have to win during the pregnancy. After, when he won, because there was no way he was losing, he would have so many fights, but this one, this one really fucking mattered.

“What?” Nico spat. “What could you honestly want?” He looked over to his father for support, but Hades showed none. And not only did he not have support, he had no emotion, looking away at his son’s gaze, which made Nico feel even worse.

Percy squeezed Nico’s hand, rather he meant to or not, Nico was glad he did because it calmed him slightly. 

“I think we both know why you are here, Mr. di Angelo,”

Nico’s jaw clenched and he held back any tears that were threatening to spill out at the thought.

“Please,” Nico said as his voice broke. “Please just - don’t,” It was all Nico could think of to say, because his mind was blank. “Don’t say it, please don’t say it, don’t tell me,”

There was a silence before Zeus spoke up again, coughing before to clear his throat. “I’m very sorry but -” he took a break in speaking as a loud, heart wrenching sob escaped Nico. He turned his face into Percy’s chest, facing away from the Olympians. Percy pressed his lips against the top of Nico’s head as he too, began to cry. Yet, even while Nico was emitting loud sobs, Zeus had just rose his voice a little higher. “- BUT,” he repeated. “The fetus will be a possible threat as it grows, so we will have to eliminate it now before something unfortunate happens,”

Nico was sobbing, along with Percy. The thought of his daughter being taken away from him was too much, and then watching Nico break down like that, he couldn’t stop from breaking down, wrapping his lover in his arms.

There was a silence before Apollo spoke up. “To begin extracting the fetus, we will inject a needle into your back, then once the injection has been placed, the idea is slowly the fetus’ heart will stop beating, resulting in it dying,”

“Her,” Percy spoke up, his voice sounded broken. “It’s a girl,” Percy said, his voice stabilizing, but it had dropped an octave. “O-Our daughter,”

At those two words, Nico broke down into loud sobs again. Yet, he didn’t hide his face this time, he looked up at the gods. “You can’t do this, you can’t do this,” Was the only thing he could say. “You can’t do - please, you can’t do this,”

At those words, he felt Zoella kick in his stomach. It was something he would usually smile at, but now it just made more tears roll down his face. “You can’t do this! I won’t! We can stop it! We can make sure it doesn’t happen! Let her live!” Nico yelled. 

She kicked again, but this time it was different, Nico felt himself sway, but Percy squeezed his hand and was able to ground himself.

“There isn’t much we can do, it could be a threat-”

“She!” Nico yelled at the same time as Percy. “Stop,” Nico said, by himself this time. “Dehumanizing our daughter,” the son of Hades said, his voice breaking. “She, and it’s not some threat, she is a human being. Due in December,” Nico said, another kick causing him to swallow the spit that was forming in his throat. “She is named Zoella Maria di Angelo-Jackson,” Hades made a face that was unreadable to most, but Nico saw it as a positive one because of the ‘Maria’, “She has her own nursery in our house, and a Aunt who can’t wait to see her. She is a person, a baby, but that doesn’t mean anything to you guys, does it?” Nico said. 

“You don’t care that she has a name, or two parents who love her, a army of people who want to love her and support her, you don’t care that she can have a future, or that she will have a life full of potential relationships, opportunities, a pet, anything, you don’t care,” Nico said, his voice completely gone after the word ‘care,’

It was silent, all you could here was Nico’s heavy breathing, Percy was basically holding his breath as the gods looked around at each other, and at there feet, then back at the two demigods. It had to have been two minutes of pure silence.

Apollo spoke again. “The injection is ready for when we begin,”

And there it went again, the same loud sob as Nico fell to his knees. Percy saw this and followed pursuit, wrapping the shorter boy in his arms. “I’m sorry,” He mumbled into his hair. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what to do from here,” Percy whispered, tears escaping from his eyes. “I don’t know, they won’t, we won’t, they can’t,”

Nico just cried into Percy’s shoulder, words not being able to form in his mouth. He felt this was the end, it was it, he was going to lose. Zoella was going to die, and then Nico didn’t know what he was going to do. He and Percy would have to go back home, the nursery empty, and they would be childless. So, Nico couldn’t stop the tears from rolling.

“Mr. di Angelo, Mr. Jackson, we need to begin soon,” Said some god or goddess Nico couldn’t pay attention. “No, I’m sorry, I should have done something different, it’s my fault, if I just - I could have,”

“No, don’t blame yourself, please, you did everything so perfectly, I just - I don’t know, it doesn’t seem real,” Percy cried, keeping his voice at a whisper.

Just at that moment, Nico felt something weird. “Perce,” He whispered, trying to act as normal as possible. “I think my - I think that -” He took a shaky and deep breath. “I think, if at all possible, my water broke,”

‘Fuck,’ Percy thought. It was too early, but then again, it was better than the gods taking her, but at the same time, was it? Because then she may still pass, or the gods wouldn’t even let them hold Zoella before they took her away. “Are you sure,” he whispered, the gods were growing impatient.

“I think so, Percy, I don’t know what to do,”

Percy pulled Nico close to him. “Okay, it’s going to fine, we’re going to get out of here, I promise that to you,”

Nico shook his head, not wanting Percy to make such a promise. 

“I’m going to call Black Jack, and we’ll get out of here, we’re in New York again, so we’ll be able to see Kate, and she’ll help, I love you okay, and I love Zoella, and we’ll make it okay? It’ll be okay,”

Percy perked his head up a bit and tucked Nico’s head under his neck. He whistled and knew his loyal pegasus would be here in second, ready to help fly the two male demigods to the hospital.

“Breath, okay, Neeks? Just breathe, breathe, he’ll be here any second now,” Nico nodded and soon enough, Black Jack arrived, the gods were bickering, yelling at the demigods, but before long, Percy was helping Nico onto the Pegasuses back and climbing on after him. Percy felt an arrow fly by him, probably shot at him thanks to Apollo, but they were already flying all the way down to Manhattan, away from Olympus.

“It’s going to be okay, we’re almost there, and we won’t let anything happen to her, I promise, I don’t ever break my promises, so just breathe,”

Nico nodded and held his stomach. It felt like something very bad was happening. He let out a yelp still very unsure of what was going on, I mean, so much was happening.

“Neeks?”

“I don’t know what just happened,” Nico panted, hoping the feeling didn’t happen again. “A-Are we almost to Dr. Holt?”

“Almost, just hold on, okay? Hold on,” Percy repeated, still recovering from what was just happened.

They kept riding on the pegasus until slowly they began lowering, Nico hated the feeling, he seriously hated this damn horse, but he also really fucking loved it because it had saved his ass on more than one occasion.

“Oh, gods,” Nico said, holding back his dinner, that was cereal which wasn’t the most settling in his stomach. “Can’t he go any slower?” Nico mumbled, the lights below contrasting against the dark sky, making him dizzy.

“Black Jack, try and slow down a bit?” Percy asked, the pegasus responded with a ‘yes, boss’ but clearly hadn’t put too much effort in following the order.

Finally, they had landed and Nico grabbed his stomach again. “I - I don’t know - fuck,” he mumbled, more pain in his stomach.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, actually I don’t know that, but, it will be okay, soon, everything will be fine,” Percy said, freaking out. He got down and then helped Nico, taking his hand. Nico was mumbling things and Percy tried to focus on them as they made a walk for the hospital doors. 

“It’s too early. She’s not ready to come out, she needs to stay in, she can’t come out, it’s only been seven months, Perce, she can’t come out, she’ll be too small, she needs two more months, we need those two more months, Percy, we can’t, she needs to stay in,” Nico said, Percy just wrapped his hand around his waist as they made it through the door. 

Percy opened the door. “It’s okay, she’ll make it, we’ll all make it,” He sat Nico down in a chair and ran up to the desk. “Doctor Holt,” He said. “I need to see Doctor Katelyn Holt,”

The receptionist began typing. “It’ll just be a moment. She is in surgery,”

“Tell her it’s di Angelo, Nico di Angelo, tell her something’s happened, she’ll know, I promise you,”

The lady at the desk simply shook her head and sighed, but did it anyway. Percy thanked her before moving back to sit next to Nico, who was paler than usual and rubbing his stomach. “Percy,” He cried. “It’s too early,”

“I know,” Percy said, “But it’s going to be okay, Doctor Holt will be here any second, I know it,”

And, Percy was right. The blonde doctor came running into the waiting room, her hair up and her surgical mask around her neck. “Mr. di Angelo, Mr. Jackson,” She called, her bright eyes frantically searching the room. Once she found them she jugged over, panting slightly from just running from the operating room. “Oh, gods, what’s going on?”

“My - My -” Nico said, but was having some form of panic attack so Percy finished the sentence for him.

“His water broke, she isn’t due for another two months, it was a long story -”

“Okay, okay,” Doctor Holt said, obviously thinking about what to do, “Okay um, can you walk?” She asked Nico, who was only able to nod. “Okay, we’re going to the room where we had you when you first came in, and we’re going to admit you and then we’ll work from there, for now just try and breath,”

Nico nodded and the doctor directed the two male demigods down the familiar path. Nico felt his stomach clench again and almost began to scream. Percy noticed this and grabbed his hand as they walked into the room. Everything was so hectic. Doctor Holt grabbed a gown and allowed Nico privacy.

Percy helped button him in and Nico thanked him. “I don’t know what’s happening, this isn’t normal, right? I mean it feels, it feels wrong,”

Percy kissed his shoulder. “I don’t know what to say. Okay? I’m so sorry, I wish I knew what else to do, and I just don’t, but it’s going to be fine, Kate will take care of us.

“But what if it’s too late?” Nico asked. “What if they killed her already because they’re fucking monsters and now she’s dead and when she comes out, she isn’t breathing and her heart has already stopped and it’s supposed to be safe in there, Percy,” Nico cried, his head in his hands. He was crying and Percy was behind him, rubbing his back. 

“It’s supposed to be the safest place in the world, but it’s not, I can’t protect her,” Nico continued. Percy reached around and began trying to soothe him.

“”I still is, you are under crazy insane circumstances and no one else could have done this better than you, you did your job, such a good one at, this is beyond anyone’s control, please try and breath, okay, it’ll be okay, just breathe, it’ll turn out, and we’ll be a happy family,” Percy said, Nico began to calm his breathing at that.

“Yeah?”

“Yes,” Percy repeated. “We’ll all be happy, we’ll be together, and we can get a dog or a cat or something, she’ll be happy, and we’ll be happy, and it’ll be us three, together.”

Nico was about to talk, but Kate walked in, her mask was off now and her eyes were more calm now. She also had a guy with her now, tall, dark skinned, and the brightest smile. When he walked in, his smile faded a bit as he looked at the situation.

“You weren’t lying,” He mumbled. “He’s pregnant,”

“Yes, Doctor Wilson, i am a lot of things, but liar is not one of them, now put on your professional face, please - sorry, this is my intern, Shane Wilson, also a demigod, Roman, but he seems to be decent enough,”

Shane scoffed, but all in a joking matter.

The next few minutes were a blur, Nico just listening to instructions, trying to breathe, keeping an eye on percy at all times, his only bit of comfort.


	28. 28

“If you don’t mind, I’m going to see what’s going on down - there,” Kate said, Nico was panicking to say the least, everything hurt and everything felt wrong.

But at the same time, it all felt right.

Almost like what was happening was natural, but not normal.

Even with that, it didn’t stop from how bad it hurt. Every time he got what he could only assume be a contractions, he would literally feel like death was coming for him.

He felt like he was going to die, like he was not going to survive.

I mean, he had been through Tartarus and back, but he still felt nothing but blinding pain, and to put it short terms, he felt like he was literally splitting in two. Not to be like dramatic or anything.

“Usually, before you got this far, we would consider an epidural, but you seem to be pretty dilated from the amount of research I’ve read up on, and it’s too late now,”

Nico didn’t even know how to react to that. Everything was going wrong, he wasn’t supposed to do this yet, and when he did, it would be planned, and calm, and he would have a mother fucking epidural.

“Okay, so while you guys were gone, I had done research, and well, a case hasn’t gotten this far, but from what I’ve read, and the demigod’s who found the research and made predictions, everything seems to be going … as expected, but I just -” Kate began, but was cut off when Nico let out another scream of pain.

That bullshit about breathing in all the books?

yeah. it’s fucking bullshit.  
The last thing Nico was thinking. All he could think about was the blinding pain he felt. It hurt, he felt like he was literally going to be two sides, and never be able to be sewn back together.  
He wanted to get everything over with.

It felt like it has been forever and Nico felt like he was going to puke. Over the last few months, he had grown very used to that feeling and he knew what it was like. He tried his best to gesture that he was about to happen and just in time, Percy had noticed. He sprung into action, grabbing a bucket that was in the corner on a desk and bringing it closer to Nico’s mouth.

Between the pain he was feeling in his abdomen and the feeling he had in his throat, he was surprised he wasn’t crying. The son of Hades grabbed the blue bin and brought it as close as possible as he puked everything he had ate up.

Percy took the bin away once Nico was finished, placing it by the sink, and immediately going back to stand next to him. They locked hands and Percy brought his other one into the mess of dark hair atop Nico’s head.

Everything was so hectic. Nico was trying to catch his breath, Kate was checking everything out, worried about when they’d be able to see Zoella’s head, because if it was this painful now, when they canal that was being created actually began to stretch wide enough for a child’s head to come through, Nico was going to go through hell.

During this hectic time, Percy was just trying to be there in the best way he could.  
He loved Nico, so much. Percy hated seeing his boyfriend in so much pain. He wanted to do as much as he could, the son of Poseidon just watched as the other males face contorted with pain, he watched as he tried to calm his breathing and he watched the tired look of pure exhaustion swiped over his face after the waves of pain subsided.

And he couldn’t do a single thing about it.

He felt so useless.

He wanted to help calm him down, but he didn’t exactly know what to say in a situation like this. He couldn’t really understand what Nico was going through, not in the slightest.

How could he? he never had to - well - give birth.

So he tried his best to just be there. Anyway he could, he tried, because he hated seeing Nico in the pain he was in. Nico was never one to speak out and show pain, he always tried to hide it, Percy knew that, anyone who really knew Nico for a bit could figure it out.

You may even be able to cut his arm off and he would try and act like he was fine, and that it wasn’t as bad and no one should sympathise for him. He would make it seem like it wasn’t bad, so if he was showing that much pain, it had to hurt so much more.

“Okay, Nico, I know you’re trying but I’m going to need you to breathe okay?” Kate began, “Keeping a steady breathing pattern will help, I know it’s hard, but just try,”

Percy noticed Nico make an effort, and it seemed to be working until another contraction hit and he was back in pain, his eyes clenched, sweat on his forehead and a pained noise escaping his lips.

“She’s crowning, okay - we need to get your legs up, Shane can you please set this up, change it out - thank you,” Kate commanded and Shane followed the instructions given to him, moving a bunch of things around, setting something Percy recognized as stirrups up.

Nico was breathing deep breaths his contraction slowly ending. He was instructed to put his legs where in the correct spots, (a/n: guys i don’t fking know the terms, but i hope you get what i’m getting at)

If Nico didn’t agree with what was going on, he was too tired to put up a fight. He kept trying to breathe, one of his hands still interlocked with Percy’s, while the other was gripping the sheets.

“Nico, I’m going to need you to start pushing in a second, she’s coming out now, when the next contraction happens, push, then breathe, don’t forget to breathe,” Doctor Holt said, Shane was already moving to another corner, setting up some station.

Percy didn’t know much about what was happening, but from basic knowledge, he knew there usually wasn’t a table for after the baby came out. In all honesty, he was worried.

He had so many questions he wanted to know the answers to, the main one being - he wanted to know what would happen in the end.

but that’s wishful thinking.

Through all his worries, he mainly saw Nico, he saw only pain on his face.

Nico felt like he was going to die, and it didn’t matter at that point anymore. He didn’t care if he did die from literally being split into a left and right side, he just wanted Zoella to be fine.

He wanted to birth her and she would have a great life growing up, she would play whatever sport she wanted to and she would grow happy and Nico didn’t care what had to happen to allow Zoella that opportunity. 

He hated the contractions, but now, even through the current amount of pain he was in, he wished for another one. he knew he had to push, and he had to push soon. He also knew he should try and listen to whatever Kate had said, but he couldn’t wait much longer.

Depending on how you want to look at it, it could be a good thing or a bad thing as another contraction pained Nico’s body. At the first feeling of discomfort, Nico was taking in a large breath as he pushed.  
And Oh, Boy, he thought the contractions were painful. He really wished he had gotten here just a little earlier because then he could have gotten the mother fucking epidural.  
and then this would only hurt a little less, probably.

Nico pushed for as long as he could before he couldn’t breathe anymore. It hurt so bad, it felt like - well - pushing a child’s fucking head out of your body, that wasn’t even designed to that. Granted, it probably is no less painful for girls. It probably hurts so fucking bad, Nico could just be being a wimp, either way though, it felt natural but wrong, and he hated it.

The only thing stopping him from crumbling into a mess was the thought of holding Zoella in his arms. He thought of his sweet daughter - his and Percy’s sweet baby girl, how they had their entire future together, as a family. As long as Zoella didn’t kill Nico by the amount of pain he was in.

Nico was a hypochondriac.

In case no has picked up on that yet.

“Okay, you did so good, a few more pushes and it’ll be over, just a few more, you can do it,”

Nico found no comfort in the words. He knew it was supposed to help, but in all honesty, at that moment in time, it didn’t. He felt like he was going to die and actually couldn’t do a few more pushes.

The son of Hades’ main focus was to try and catch his breath. he knew those even 1 - 2 - 1 - 2 breaths was false because no matter how fucking hard he tried, he couldn’t keep that rhythm. He doesn’t even believe actual mothers wrote those planning for baby books.

Because if they did, they would probably mention the trouble breathing, horrible pain, and dizziness. Was he supposed to be this dizzy? Who knows. He was in too much pain and way too dizzy to ask.

Soon, another contraction hit, and the breath he had just caught was gone and he was pushing again, screaming in pain as he felt even more pain, he knew it would be over soon, he knew it would, if he could just keep pushing, but he couldn’t, because when he pushed, he would also stop breathing, and eventually he was out of oxygen.

He wanted to ask why the hell he couldn’t push the entire time, but he was too tired to ask. Nico just wanted it to be over. He truly didn’t know if he would be able to continue on the pain was that bad.

“You’re doing great,” Kate began, still watching as Zoella got closer and closer to her birth. “You are almost there,” She said, urging Nico on.

Nico felt like he was seriously going to pass out. He didn’t think he would be able to make it, and he felt so weak for feeling that way, but he did and he couldn’t stop those feelings.He was longing for this to be over, for his sweet daughter to be in his arms, to take her home with Percy.

He couldn’t wait to place her down in the bassinet by their bed for the first few months, he wanted to be there and interact with her and love her from outside of his stomach. He wanted to be a family and he just really wanted it to be over. He wanted the pain gone.

He felt another contraction hit (a/n: guys i have no clue how contractions work. i have never birthed a child for many reasons - the main one being i've never been pregnant - so like don’t kill me if you’re like an expert on contractions or whatever. all the information i have is either from my mom or my aunt,)

On cue, Nico knew to push, so he did, it was the only thing he could really understand from everything going on. He knew contraction meant to push, everything else was a blur, he couldn’t grasp it all, but the one thing he could remember. contraction meant push.

It was the only thing that made sense, it was what was making him go crazy and keeping him sane at the same time.

When he couldn’t push anymore, he tried to breath. He turned to Percy, not caring how much of a wreck he had looked. His voice was strained from screaming and he felt like crying, and he wouldn’t be surprised if he was and just couldn’t feel it.

“I don’t think I can - I can’t -” Nico tried to say through deep breaths, staring into the bright, sea green eyes of the man he loved, trying to stay calm but he felt so hopeless, and the son of Hades was never optimistic to begin with.

Percy brought his hand into Nico’s hair and began pushing it back gently. Nico looked at his boyfriend contently, everything else seemed far away at that point, all that he could look at was Percy.

Well everything else was far away - minus the pain, that was still very much there.

“Babe, I can only imagine how hard it is, but if there is anyone who can do this, I know it’s you,” Percy said, his face serious. “You’re strong beyond words, and I know you can do this okay? You’re one of the most badass people I have ever laid eyes on, and I know - without a doubt in my mind, you can do this - don’t doubt yourself, okay? Because I know you know you can do it too. You’ve been tested again and again, and you’re still standing, so I know you can do this,”

Nico began shaking his head. He truly didn’t think he could do it. He was thankful Percy did, but what happened if he couldn’t do it, he wanted to, but could he? Could he honestly do that?

“Nico,” Doctor Kate said, grabbing his attention away from Percy. “One more push and it’s over, you’re about to need to push for me,”

“You can do it, Neeks, I know you can, you have this,”

Nico shook his head. “No, I can’t, I -” his thoughts were caught off my another wave of pain hitting him. He knew he had to push but it was going to hurt so bad, so fucking bad.

“Come on, you got it, Nico,” The son of Poseidon said in a whisper. Yet, Nico was able to hear it clearly. He prepared himself to push, and he was just so tired, mentally and physically. He heard Kate and Percy both urging him on, but he could no longer really distinguish it.

After what felt like a really fucking long time, it was over. Yet, he could have sworn you were supposed to hear a cry. He didn’t hear a cry, not even a whimper or a whine. He heard nothing. He started panicking, eternally, he was too tired to do much else than to be trapped in his mind.

As he caught his breath, he watched Shane took Zoella in his hands and rushed her over to the weird table thing he was setting up earlier. Nico looked over at Percy, who looked at him, equally worried.

“Kate? What’s going on?” He asked, which Nico was thankful for, because he was having trouble breathing, forget asking questions.

“She’s uh, just having trouble breathing we need to -” She stopped talking to them as she directing Doctor Wilson do grab everything needed for whatever they were doing. Now, not only was Nico having trouble breathing due to giving birth, but now he was having trouble breathing because he felt a panic/anxiety attack coming along.

Nico’s grip on the sheets and Percy’s hand loosened. He tried to sit himself up a bit, but any movement hurt.

“Is she -” He took a break to breathe. “Will she be - o-okay?” Nico finally got out after way too much effort for just a few words, but unfortunately, he got no reply, as for both the doctors, shane and kate, were to invested and making sure Zoella did make it.

It felt like forever, Shane was running around, grabbing random things, but this wasn’t made for this - this room. It was the private wing - made for things like rare case checkups, not a man giving birth.

Kate was in a strange focus type. It didn’t take long for Nico to notice she most likely had the type of ADD that made you able to focus on one thing - which was good for a doctor, but it was very hard to get information out of her because if she focused on the questions, she couldn’t focus easily on the baby.

And Shane, bless him, he was trying, but he was only an intern and really didn’t know what was happening, he wouldn’t be an expert in female births, let alone male. Plus, he probably couldn’t diagnose symptoms easily either.

Kate knew, but Kate was focusing, and the entire situation didn’t really put Nico at ease for many reasons.

One minute felt like an hour.

But just as Nico thought he was going to sob, he heard a cry.

Followed by four people finally letting go of held breaths.

(a/n: oh boy this took forever to come out, and I am so sorry for that, but i wanted it to be like cool i guess? i don’t know. and this book isn’t coming to an end yet so like don’t freak out - unless you want to. I can’t tell you what to do.

erm, on another note, - i could have sworn i had so much more to say, thank you memory, whatever - as i was saying, on another note IM LOOKING FOR LIKE A co-writer or something, like proofreader for this story, i guess another word for it is like - idk, but i feel like i make a lot of dumb mistakes and like just need someone to help me read it before i post, adding comments to like fix it, ? idk, help me with certain words etc, and of course credit will be given where credit is due, so if you would be interesting comment, and then we can pm or something, we’ll figure it out then.

requirements are 1) some writing experience, 2) very detail oriented( bc i am not),3) and the ability to email, so if you are interesting please comment !!

bye lovelies -leah


	29. chapter 29

Nico took in a deep breath, trying to calm his breathing. She was breathing. Everything was going to be fine. Zoella was born and breathing. She was finally breathing. Things would be okay, they would be a family, and they would be happy. He was about to see her.

That’s what he thought. But, that didn’t happen. Doctor Holt kept moving around, ordering Shane to do things, Zoella kept crying and all Nico wanted to do was help her, but he couldn’t, he could barely sit up, let alone walk over and cradle his daughter in her arms.

“Wh- What’s?” Nico tried to talk but he was extremely tired. He turned to Percy who was equally worried, his hand still in Nico’s. “K-Kate? Wha-” Percy realized how winded Nico was and asked for him.

“Holt, what’s going on?” Percy asked, Nico was catching his breath, slowly becoming more stable, being able to sit up more and move a little on the bed. 

Kate didn’t do much to reply. She was hyper focused, unable to focus on anything else except for keeping Zoella safe and well, which, Nico was thankful for, but right now he just wanted to know what the fuck was happening.

Shane saw the panic in both of the new parents faces and mumbled something to Kate, in return, they mumbled something back that, clearly, Shane had to strain to hear. After a few moments and Kate’s mumbling was over, Shane spoke out clearly. “Erm, I don’t want to worry you, but something is wrong with her heart, something we won’t really know until we get in there. We need to rush her to surgery but first we’re hooking her up to machines so she can breath better on her trip to the O.R,”

“What?” The two male demigods said at the same time. Both of them just wanted to see Zoella. They went from her going to be killed by the gods, to being born, to having a heart problem, and they just longed for her. They wanted to hold their child in their arms and never let her go, but they couldn’t, and it was really fucking cruel. 

Shane walked away from Kate and went to talk to Percy and Nico. He tried to remain calm but Nico could tell he was slightly concerned himself. “From what we’re seeing, her heart wall is very weak, she used her weird magic Apollo power thing and that’s all she seems to be telling, we’re rushing her to surgery now. Kate has done this procedures multiple times before, so don’t worry too much until we get in there and open her up,”

‘Open her up’ almost had Nico bursting in tears, instead he just nodded, and slumped back into the bed, which was pretty elevated anyway. He swallowed because of the lump forming in his throat. Nico and Percy watched as their daughter was wheeled out at a jog, Kate mumbling things as she ran.

It was silent for a moment, both boys trying to control their tears. Percy was confused and Nico was tired, yet both demigods were sad. Nico leaned all the way back on the bed, he closed his eyes to stop tears from flowing down his face. Percy was sitting down in the chair next to the bed, his hand finding its way to Nico’s.

Nico’s thumbs traced circles in Percy’s hands. He didn’t know what else to do. He wanted their baby. He also wanted to sleep, with their baby, and he wanted their baby to be safe and he just wanted it to be perfect. Which was a dream because nothing in his life would ever go perfect.

“Wh- What do you think - is wr - wrong?” Nico asked, his eyes closed and his breath still slightly uneven. 

Percy shook his head. “I don’t know, I wish I did,”

“M - Me too,” Nico sighed, his voice scratchy from screaming a lot, plus now he had a lump in his throat from trying not to cry. He brought his knees to his chest, feeling weird because the bump was like, way smaller. He definitely had extra weight there now, but honestly that couldn’t hurt because he was always really thin anyway.

He looked down at Percy who had red-rimmed eyes. He tugged on his hand lightly, and when Percy looked up Nico asked: “Can you come up here?” To which Percy sat up and laid down next to him. Percy wrapped his arms around Nico and rested his head on the top of Nico’s.

Silence again. It left Nico to think and Percy to think and the fact they had ADD/ADHD made thinking a lot easier, and Nico would pay so much to be able to get rid of that for awhile. He didn’t want to think anymore.

Nico decided to voice his thoughts to Percy. “What if the gods - they come down here and they do what they do best, be a dick, and they decide to finish what they were starting,” Nico drifted off and linked his hand into Percy’s.

Percy shook his head. “I don’t know. They wouldn’t, I mean, would they? That’s pretty messed up,”

Nico just laughed darkly. “I don’t think they’d care, rather the baby is born, not born, critical -” Nico stopped at that word for a moment. “Critical care,” he repeated. “They don’t take any of that into factor, they’ll just - and - they’ll - and - and,” Nico was about to cry now. He used to never cry, and right now, he chose to blame it on the hormones and shit.

“You can’t think like that, Neeks,” Percy cooed. “If you think like that, you’ll start only thinking bad things, and that’s not good, and we can’t do that. We can’t think about how she’s in there, right now, and she’s so little, and a - alone, and,” Percy began, but Nico sat up and turned to face Percy. He leaned in and hugged Percy close.

“We’re not very optimistic people, are we?”

Percy shook his head. “No, we’re not,”

Time went on and it had to have been an hour now sense Zoella was brought into surgery and they hadn’t gotten a single update. Nico and Percy were losing their minds because they just didn’t know. 

They knew moping around and crying wasn’t going to help anything. So, around the one hour mark, they decided Nico would take a shower and Percy would go home and grab Nico some better clothes because Percy was sitting in comfortable clothes, and Nico had a very crunchy hospital gown.

Percy told Nico to Iris Message him if any updates were given. Nico agreed like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and then Percy made his way to his mom’s apartment. He called an Uber because in that moment in time, calling BlackJack would be a little extra.

Once Percy arrives, he noticed his mom wasn’t home, which was disappointing. He really wouldn’t have minded seeing her, especially now. He decided not to dwell on that fact for to long, instead he walked to his room. He grabbed some clothes, putting them in his backpack, making quick work of everything.

He glanced outside the window, looking at the same place he and Nico had spent nights at, talking and conversing. It was nice to be able to see everything and remember, but it was hard to really take it in when your daughter is in surgery.

He hadn’t gotten an Iris Message, so he assumed that no updates had come. While that seemed great, in reality, that just means nothing good happened. Yes, nothing bad happened but neither did anything good. 

The Uber driver asked why he looked so glum. Percy couldn’t say it no matter how hard he had tried. The Driver decided not to pry, which Percy was thankful for.

When the driver dropped him off, he walked straight up to the room they were in to find Nico back in the gown. He had clearly finished his shower. Percy handed him the clothes, and Nico mumbled a thank you and changed into the clothes. 

Once that was all said and done, they were back on the bed, left with each other and their thoughts. “It’s been like three hours,” Percy said. ‘I mean, what could be happening that would take three hours,” his voice was broken and scratchy.

“I don’t know. I can’t imagine much,” Nico said, his hands practically shaking, “I mean, maybe if she has no lungs, or her heart is broken, has three percent of her liver left, maybe she didn’t get my power to deal with death very well, and now it’s killing her, you know? Something super natural that we can’t do anything about because -”

Percy cuts Nico off by his hands being placed in Nico’s, stopping the shaking. “I know you list things and ramble and go on tangents, but no matter what, nothing you did harmed her,” Percy said, his tone incredibly serious. “The fact you’re a son of Hades will have nothing to do with the outcome. Don’t blame yourself, please,”

Nico watched Percy, his eyes wide as he began thinking, his mind running around. Eventually, he nodded and leant his head on Percy’s chest. “I love you,”

“I love you, too.”

-

It had to have been a whole other hour before the tired couple saw Shane walk into the room. He had on a blue gown and a mask around his neck, hands that had indentations left from gloves.

Percy and Nico, who were leaning back and trying to sleep(there minds stopping them). They suddenly sat up, Nico began seeing black spots as he sat up so fast.

“Sorry to wake you,”

“We weren’t asleep,” Percy mumbled, he rubbed his eyes and yawned. Nico yawning shortly after. 

“Oh, well, she’s barely stable, but stable, she has patent ductus arteriosus, also known as PDA, um, basically what the is, it’s a tear or a hole in two veins that lead to the heart, usually, if it was small, there would be no symptoms, your daughter -”

“Zoella,” Nico said,

Shane nodded. “Zoella would have been able to go her whole life without anyone knowing it was there, but, this is no small tear, it’s one of the largest ones i’ve ever seen, granted I’ve only been studying cardio for a year now, don’t worry though, Kate is much better at it,”

Nico and Percy were at a loss for words.

“This was caused by her heart not fully developing, even if she was carried to term, she would still have had it, albeit, it would be smaller, but still very there. It can be fatal, causing trouble eating, which may have been the reason she had such a hard time eating when she was growing and why you had that horrible morning sickness, more than usual. Yes, the nectar had helped, because it was healing her, that’s why when you didn’t take it, she wasn’t able to eat it,

“other symptoms can be failure to thrive and breathlessness,”

“O- okay,” Nico said, his back against Percy’s chest, feeling his heartbeat.

“She also has apnea which can also cause breathlessness, and while it’s bad, it’s common in premies and will go away, it will only require watching her while she’s sleeping, helping her breath when it seems she isn’t,”

“Is that -” Percy began, his throat still scratchy. “Is that all?” he repeated, Shane nodded. 

“I know you’ll worry, you have the right to worry, but I’m telling you that Kate is very good, and I hope that helps. She is focusing on one thing, and that’s your daughter, and I’ll be back to give you more updates, Adam, a nurse, will be here to help you if you need anything,”

The two males nodded as the resident walked out of the room. They understood why he was in a rush, he had a patient, but it just sucked a lot more when that patient was their daughter.

Nico didn’t even know all the terms Shane used and he didn’t have google, (which after thinking it through, he realized it wasn’t a bad thing) he and Percy no longer knew what to do. Should they cry? Would that help? Usually they’d pray to the gods ( as dumb as that sounded ) but currently, the gods didn’t want Zoella alive, so there was almost nothing more to do except for sit there, emotionlessly. 

Nico is so tired, he only feels sadness and exhaustion because the baby he just gave birth to, which resulted in his tiredness, was now in surgery, resulting in the sadness. And, whenever he tired to close his eyes and drift off, he couldn’t because his mind was running wild.

This was what started his depression really when he was younger. The anxiety, mixed with the ADHD, which meant his mind never stopped with the over-thinking. Then bad shit happened.

He had just got better.

He had a family now, and that couldn’t happen again, but it was always a thought, a thought of what if he fell back down into the depression hole? Now he had something to live for, two things really, and it all just sucked that it could happen.

Depression wasn’t something you could control. 

That also scared Nico. “I want to turn my mind off,” Nico sighed, allowing a single tear to stroll down his face. “I don’t want to think anymore,”

Percy nodded, setting his head on top of the fluffy raven hair belonging to Nico. “Me too,” He sighed. “Me too,” he repeated, prolonging his sigh.

Nico hated how broken Percy sounded. It reminded him of when he came up to him that one night at Sally’s apartment. Nico didn’t like seeing Percy sad, like, Nico was used to being sad, but seeing the people he loved sad hurt a lot more.

It’s been so long now, I mean it was probably like at least three more hours. Nico was dying and so was Percy, they were both lying in the hospital bed, eyes open as they worried themselves for hours on hours. 

The next time someone walked into their room, it was Kate, her expression unreadable.

Nico could hear his heart beating in his ears. He could feel everything, see what would happen with all 100 outcomes, he felt his breath stop, his lungs actually stop moving, he almost forgot english.

He was frozen.

“She’s okay,”

Breathe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :))
> 
> thank you @rainbowchild546 (on wattpad) for being my beta on this chapter <3


	30. 030

“Okay, she’s being moved to the NICU, she’s -”

“Can we see her?” Nico cut off the doctor, too worried to really think of anything else other than ‘Zoella, Zoella, Let me see my baby, Zoella, Zoella,’

“Soon but I must warn you she is in a very unstable condition - I really should tell you what’s going on before you work up the courage to go see her. She’s going to have a scar all the way down her chest, wires in her nose, she’ll be covered in medical tape and you really need to know what you should be expecting before you see it, even people who work in the field need preparation before seeing what you’re about to see,”

The two boys had already stood up (which had proven to be very difficult considering he had just pushed a baby out of him hours ago and was slightly sore) but he had braced himself on the end of the bed, plus his hand in Percy’s helped, knowing someone was there. 

Percy felt broken. He didn’t know how to explain it with any other word. Shattered? Maybe Crumbling? He really just couldn’t put his finger on the word, but he knew it sucked, he felt like crying, screaming, he wanted to curse the gods, but at the same time, he didn’t want to piss of the ones that actually thought keeping the baby would be a good idea. 

“Okay,” Nico said, Percy felt the younger boy squeeze his hand lightly. The son of Hades looked up at Percy silently asking ‘are you ready?’ Percy nodded as he looked at the boy’s tear-brimmed eyes, the beautiful brown eyes that on any other day would bring a bright smile to his face. “Okay,” Percy mumbled.

Nico held eye-contact for a moment longer, searching Percy’s eyes for a more intricate answer, but in the end had turned back to Kate, nodding his head, not trusting the words to come out of his mouth.

“Zoella is very sick,” She deadpans, which made the two boys sad, even though they already knew that much. “To pinpoint exactly what seems to be the problem, is very difficult, especially after just going in there. You’d think that would be the best way, but in reality, tests and scans are the best way to really know, because we can observe, and watch, and compare, but just going in there it’s more heat of the moment. but so far, we know she has PDA, which is basically a heart condition. She has a hole in her Aorta, many preemies have it without some ever really realizing it because the hole is so small, however, Zoella’s is a rare case of it being pretty extreme,”

Kate took a deep breath, clearly trying to word it correctly, but she had just spent hours on a surgery and now had to explain to the parents what was wrong. It wasn’t exactly enjoyable, plus you have to be extremely careful with every word said, because she knew Nico and Percy would probably cling onto the words as they sat for hours next to their very weak baby.

“We’ll be watching her closely for the next 72 hours, and then we’ll know what to do by then, hopefully, but now, it’s really all theoretical. And I wish I had more answers for you, I really do, but I don’t, and the most I can do is prepare you for what you’re about to see,”

Nico and Percy didn’t know what to say, so the two new parents simply nodded, bracing themselves for what they would hear, and wanting to absorb all information to hopefully make seeing their daughter a little less difficult.

“She can’t breathe or eat on her own, so she has a feeding tube, along with a oxygen tube. In reality, the tube itself is small, but so is she, which makes it look a lot worse than it is. Plenty of preemies require these, just Zoella is -”

“A special case,” Nico finished for her, his voice breaking. Percy looked down and he knew Nico would most likely never admit it, but Percy could see the emotion on his face. Nico blamed himself. He knew he should say something along the lines of ‘stop that, that won’t help anything’ but at the same time, now wasn’t really the time to say that.

“Yes,” Kate confirmed. “She also has bandaging covering up the incision point. Which once again, will seem so much worse than what it really is because of how just small she is,” Kate said. She wanted to be gentle with the words she used, but at the same time, she wanted them to know what they were about to see. “She’ll also have a few wires on her chest, tracking her heart rhythm. Please, please keep in mind it will look worse than it is,” She said finally, clasping her hands together. Nodding their heads, they waited for Kate to say more, but the next words that she said were the most confusing words she had said.

“Follow me,” 

Nico or Percy didn’t know if they should be elated to see their daughter or terrified. Obviously, the two demigods would be relieved, but neither would be jumping from joy at the sight of Zoella sick and weak in a baby incubator. Yet, they would also finally be able to see their baby. It was a lot of mixed emotions. 

Kate lead them through the hall, the hall they had spent most of their days at the hospital. ‘The special wing’ as Nico could call it, sense their entire situation just seemed to be special. The son of Hades tried not to limp, but it was a bit difficult, but he hid it well enough. However, it was a lot of walking. 

After a bit more walking, they finally turned one last hallway, walked a few more steps, and there they were, walking into a room labeled ‘NICU’. Nico’s breath hitched as the door opened and the first thing he saw was other babies, and other parents by those babies, some with tears in their eyes, and all of them broken. 

Kate lead them through a bit of the room and in a corner, pretty secluded, still had a few people near, but out of ear-shot. Nico knew Kate probably did this on purpose, or Shane at least, given their special condition of being demigods and being able to be a boy and give birth to a child, someone hearing that would raise suspicion. 

Walking hand in hand, the two demigods braced themselves as they neared one of the incubators, the one Kate had stopped by. The one that held Zoella. 

One more step further and they saw something that no amount of information would have ever prepared them for. Nico let out a choked sob noise, and Percy let out a shaky, broken breath, covering his mouth with his hand in shock. 

“Oh, gods,” Percy spoke, walking closer to Zoella, tears gathering in his eyes, unable to push them back, Nico having the same problem. Percy tried to tell himself that it looked worse because of how small she was, but looking down and seeing ALL the tubes and wires, knowing they were keeping her alive, it was hard to think of it not being bad.

The closer the two parents got, the more it was bittersweet. They knew they should be more excited, they were seeing their baby for the first time, but at the same time, she was so sick. However, the tubes and wires, and the tape, and the ill lighting couldn't take away her beauty.

Nico was never one to find babies that different from the next, but Zoella was definitely beautiful and special. Maybe it was because it was his baby, but he was sure he would never find anything else so beautiful and perfect.

Percy took a step towards his daughter, holding back a sob as he looked at her for the first time (of course besides the time when she was rushed away from the delivery room to the O.R)

The son of Poseidon wanted to do so much. He wanted to hold Zoella. He wanted to kiss her forehead, cradle her in his arms and not let anyone or anything hurt her. Waves of protectiveness just washed over him. But, everything he wanted to do, he couldn’t. He couldn’t do any of it, because she was in the incubator, covered in medical supplies. And it hurt, it was like being trapped, but he wasn’t trapped, she was trapped. Not him. But it gave off the same feeling.

“I want to say again, it looks far worse than it actually is,” Kate began, looking at the two demigods. “I mean, it isn’t ideal, but it isn’t as bad as your mind are going to make it look like, please try and remember that,”

Nico only managed a nod, Percy was unresponsive, only able to look at his and Nico’s daughter, he knew Kate was only trying to help, but it was hard to care of someone else when your newborn was on the brink of death.

There were already two chairs pulled up by Zoella’s incubator, and Nico took one, slumping down, still holding back tears. Percy followed in pursuit, choosing that sitting down on his own record would be better than his knees giving out.

“We’ll leave you three alone,” the doctor said calmly. “We’ll be back to check on Zoella every hour or so, but they’ll always be one nurse to page us if anything goes - um, wrong,” 

This time Percy answered, nodding while speaking: “Yes, thank you,” He said, glad his voice didn’t break too much. Kate walked out, Shane trailing behind her. “Gods,” Nico said, looking at the sight before him. 

“I know,” Percy said, reaching his hand out for Nico’s, squeezing it for reassurance. “It’s -”

“Horrible,” Nico finished.

“Yeah,” Percy agreed. They both sat there, looking at their daughter, not sure what else they could do. She was still so small, that the option to stick your hand into the little incubator thing, wasn’t there, the holes closed up, only able to be opened with a key.

That they didn’t have.

All they could do was sit there, looking at their precious Zoella, not able to do a thing about her sickness.  
-

Either Kate or Shane has walked in each hour, as Kate had said earlier. The entire time, Nico and Percy just watched as they did the same routine, checking her breathing, how her heart was beating. Percy and Nico did ask questions, but they didn’t really understand what was happening completely, which made it very hard to ask something - because, well, where do you begin?

“Her heartbeat is getting a bit stronger, not as much as we would like, but as much as we would expect,” Shane said. 

Nico nodded, breaking eye-contact from Zoella and looking up at the intern, “Thank you,” He mumbled, but quickly looking back down at his daughter. ‘Do you think she’ll get better?’ The question stayed on the tip of his tongue, but he didn’t say it, mainly because he didn’t know if he could handle it when Shane scrambled to get out a fancy way of saying ‘I don’t know, maybe, we don’t know, not for sure’  
Nico knew that’s what he would say.  
Because he knew that’s all he could.

Shane wasn’t allowed to say much else. He wasn’t allowed to really say his truthful opinion because whatever he said, he would be held to, and then if something did go wrong, he would have to explain why he was wrong. So, ‘I don’t know, maybe, we don’t know, not for sure’ seemed to be the only thing that he could really say.

“Well, we’ll be back to check on her again, I’d try to get some sleep,” Shane said, taking off his gloves, throwing them away, and walking out of the room. Nico almost laughed, but he couldn’t given the situation, but sleep?

Shane had not a single clue what he’d been through, or he would have never told Nico to get some sleep. One, Nico was very good at going ages without sleep, and secondly, if he went to sleep, he’d have a nightmare, one that would thirty times worse than reality.

Percy was clearly thinking the same thing, as he let out a grim laugh of sorts. More of a shaky breath, really. “She’ll get better?” There was a small pause. “Right?”

“Yeah,” Nico said, not sure if he was lying or not. he really hoped he wasn’t lying. “She has too,”

“Exactly,” Peercy said. “It has too,”

Almost on cue, beeping sound. Percy and Nico both snapped out of some sort of trance. It was like they were looking at her, but almost numbly. They both stood up and looked at their daughter, her face was struggling to breathe. 

The nurse that ran the NICU came rushing over, opposite of the two demigods and opening the incubator. “Someone page Doctor Katelyn Holt,” 

Nico was looking around the room, everything seemed to be going at a different speed, He wasn’t sure if it was slow or fast. The best word to really describe it would be chaotic. Someone clearly had listened to her, because moments later Kate was rushing into the NICU, her hair in a messy bun and already putting gloves on. “Talk to me, Daniels,” She said, Shane rushing in behind her. 

“She was seeming stable and then she just coded,” Said the nurse, who Nico now knew as Daniels. Kate had taken control of the situation, pulling on wires, putting them on, Nico didn’t even know how he was supposed to focus on all of it. 

Kate rested her hand on top of Zoella’s chest, she kept her hand steady on the newborn’s chest. She was mumbling something and Nico knew what she was doing - she was using her powers as a daughter of Apollo to try and determine what the hell was happening. 

However, the gods weren’t exactly on their side. It sounded as if she was praying to her father, but Nico knew better than to bet on him helping them out. “Okay,” She said a little louder and began gesturing Shane around, using gestures and Shane just knew what they meant. “Okay,” She repeated, backing up, taking off her gloves. 

“Kate,” Percy began. “What’s wrong?” He asked.

No response, she kept going, doing a bunch of different things, mainly pulling out a transfer cart-thing.

“Katelyn?” Percy repeated. 

Nico was growing increasingly worried. And, Kate, bless her, she was an amazing doctor, but she had an answering questions issue. He wanted - no - needed to know what was happening with his daughter. Kate obviously knew to some extinct, but she just couldn’t see to get it out.

“Doctor Holt!” Nico snapped, not meaning too but he was too worried to care much about being rude.

She managed to stop her train of thought and looked at Nico and Percy, going from Nico’s eyes, to Percy’s. “Her lungs collapsed, and with the recent surgery it complicates things, but I promise you, I’ll try,” 

Nico’s heart shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey loves, im back, sorry for leaving without a word, when i published my goodbyes, i have two books on wattpad, and i didn't want to copy in paste because it's not as sincere, so, annyway, i thought i had put something on here, but i guess it didn't go through, but im back with a chapter and it was a tear jerker.


	31. chapter thirty-one

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry if i cause anyone tears.  
> also sorry for the slow updates.

a/n: i just want to apologize for the tears i may or may not cause you guys in this chapter.

Shane had stopped by once to give Percy and Nico an update. It wasn’t even an update, more of a ‘Okay, she’s in surgery, prepped, and Kate’s about to open her up for surgery’ Nico knew it was supposed to be reassuring, but in all honesty, it scared the Hades out of him. 

After that point, it was once again, just a lot of waiting. Nico, having experience with depression before, knew he didn’t want to fall back into the deep hole he was once in. So, Percy and Nico both decided that fresh air might do them some good. 

Hand in hand, they walked out. Nico felt oddly emotional. He was used to being able to bottle up his emotions, but this time he just couldn’t seem to. He walked with Percy out of there room, down the halls, and so on, until they were outside.   
Nico sighed, it was a bit painful to walk, but he was getting better at it. 

It was silent for a bit as they walked around the sidewalk, it was a sunny day, but still kind of cold. It was November 2nd, so it should have been a lot colder. It was probably because of global warming. 

There wasn’t much to say, having each other there helped a lot in a way that they weren’t really expected to say anything. They could silently think together while breathing in the cool air. There was a part in Nico’s brain telling him that being outside was bad and they would miss updates 

“It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.” Nico finally said. 

“It never is,” Percy sighed, his thumb making circles on Nico’s hand.

Nico wanted to say more, but he didn’t ever really voice his opinions. So, he stood in silence for a few more moments, wallowing in self pity. “I,” Nico began, wanting to get something out, but at the same time, he didn’t want to bother Percy with his thoughts. “If I had just done something different.”

“No, Neeks,” Percy began, looking at the Son of Hades. “Please don’t do that to yourself, we both know there wasn’t anything you could do. Out of the circumstances, you handled them perfectly.”

Nico looked up at Percy, searching for a trace of a lie in his eyes, but Nico found nothing but honesty. “But -”

“Nico, please,” Percy said. “I know me telling you not to won’t help you. But no one blames you but yourself. Everyone else sees these crazy circumstances and sees the strong person you are.”

Nico didn’t know what to say. He just kind of stuttered for a while, before sighing in defeat, looking down at his feet as they continued walking down the sidewalk. “It’s just - It’s - I - It’s - It sucks,” Nico finally settled with. 

“It sucks a lot,” Percy agreed, “But I’m sure she’ll make it.”

Nico didn’t believe him, and Nico also knew Percy didn’t believe himself either. The son of Poseidon was simply trying to stay optimistic. Even being able spot the fact it was false reassurance, Nico chose not to say anything. Optimism is something they needed, and Nico sure wasn’t going to be able to do it. 

“Yeah,” Nico simply said.

It was funny to some degree. For the past seven months, even when Nico wasn’t sure of what would happen with his and Percy’s relationship when he first got pregnant, he was still fantasizing when he was going to meet his child. He imagined the future he would have with them, some had Percy, and some sadder ones didn’t. Then, when he dated Percy, all the thoughts were good. They lived in New Rome, Zoella went to school and made friends. They eventually got married, had grandchildren and grew old together, and now, all those dreams slowly started crumbling. 

Everything he had thought up in the last seven months was being stolen from him and there wasn’t a single damn thing he could do about it. Every other situation that had been thrown at him, at least he could fight his way out, Tartarus, fought his way out. When he was locked in the godsdamn jar, at least he was able to strategize a way to stay alive until he could get out. Everything he had ever faced had a solution, an opportunity to make a plan and survive the problem. This one? Not a single plan or fight could he think up to save Zoella. And it was killing him.

Percy was clearly thinking around the same thing. “I’d rather fight another Giant War.” 

Nico let out a small chuckle, smiling lightly at the irony. “I’d choose Giant War over this anyday.”  
-

After twenty more minutes of walking around outside, Percy and Nico had made their way around the hospital parking lot and decided to head back inside.

Percy was worried. He was worried about Zoella. How could he not be? It was his daughter. He wanted to meet her, and be with her, raise her and watch her grow into a beautiful young person. He wanted to have a family, and it was extremely hard to do that without Zoella in the picture. Beautiful baby Zoella. 

Sitting back in the hospital brought nothing but bad vibes. Nico and Percy had both adjusted themselves on the uncomfortable hospital bed and they were there for each other. Which was still insane to Percy. 

When he knew Nico, way back then, never once did he imagine this is where they would end up. He had Annabeth, he thought he was completely straight and he never thought that if he was bi, he would ever have the chance to be with Nico. 

It was all so crazy. 

Percy was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Nico’s voice. “Shane?” He had asked. Percy looked up and was greeted with Shane who was holding a surgical mask in his hands. the son of Poseidon could only hope he would not be using that same mask when he went back into the operating room. 

“I have another update, and it’s not bad, but it’s not exactly good -” the intern began. Percy felt Nico kind of sink into himself. Percy was almost certain the other was going to disintegrate into the shadows soon if Nico wasn’t careful. 

“Okay,” Nico said, clearly bracing himself for the news he was about to here. Percy doing the same thing. He was never one to have horrible anxiety. He would have the occasional ‘Oh, my gods, remember when I did that thing that many years ago’ crisis, but if what Percy was feeling like right now was even a hint of what people with anxiety had, he wouldn’t be able to handle doing life. 

“We’re fixing her lung, it’s going well, but that’s honestly a small piece to a huge problem,” Shane said. Percy wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about the intern’s brutal honesty. Yeah, he now knows everything about his daughters condition, however, he’s not sure if he wanted to know all of it in such brutal detail. “we’re noticing that she’s having complications in her liver.”

Percy closed his eyes and took a long, shaky breath. Nico was coping differently by just staring blankly at some random point on the wall. It took a second for Percy to wrap his mind around everything until he could form a sentence. “So… So what does this mean, c-can it be fixed?”

“It seems to be that Zoella’s liver is failing, and the only fix for that is…” Shane trailed off for a second. “is well, a transplant.”

Percy didn’t see the problem in all this. He had heard how one liver can be divided into two and how it was one of the most common things to donate, besides kidneys. For fuck’s sakes, he would donate his liver and he was almost positive Nico would do the same. However, maybe the age might be a problem, but Percy was sure she’d be able to get one. So he just couldn’t see the problem. 

“So, we get a transplant?” Nico said, coming out as more as a question. He was obviously just as confused as to why Shane had said everything so grimly.

“We would, she’s already on the list, but it’s just that her being in a more critical condition mean she will be lower on the list.” 

Percy didn’t understand the logic to that either. He and Nico sat up, the son of Hades crossed his legs and Percy let his swing over the side of the bed. “That doesn’t make sense,” Percy said. “She’s in a critical condition, she should be on the top of the list.” He was trying not to raise his voice.

“In an ideal world, yes, but UNOS doesn’t always see it that way. They’ll see how your daughter has already had heart surgery, a collapsed lung, and doesn’t seem to be getting too much better. They’ll want to give the organs to someone who will most likely be able to survive surgery. If we get the liver, her heart’s weak, and may not even make it if we put her under anesthesia.”

The room grew quiet. Percy let shameless tears roll down his face and Nico had balled up, resting his eyes on his knees and was probably crying as well. They were so tired and just wanted Zoella to be okay. Shane didn’t speak, but he stayed, walking closer to the bed that the two demigods were sitting on.

The intern took a seat. “I know this must be really hard for you, and we’re going to keep trying to do everything that we can do. We’re going to see what may be causing the liver failure, and hopefully prevent any more organs from doing the same, we’re not giving up on your little girl, not yet. Not until we’ve done literally everything.”

Percy looked down at Shane and nodded his head, his lips pressed into a thin line. “..okay, thank you,” He managed to croak out. Shane took this as his signal to leave, getting back to the operating room to go continue assisting surgery on Zoella.

No one said anything like ‘She’ll be okay, she’ll make it, it’ll be all good’ because at this point, no one believed it.

-

Shane was brutally honest, but he did care. He came out multiple times and gave updates, saying how Zoella was stable and how Kate was staying focused and doing everything she could to make sure they would be able to see their daughter alive and out of this surgery. (Percy didn’t like how much the intern stressed ‘This Surgery.’

They decided to clean up the room a bit. It wasn’t messy, but they had clothes, some water bottles, etc. Plus, being able to busy your mind is something demigods (and regular humans with ADHD can have a problem with doing) so if they were able to achieve that by cleaning, they were going to clean.

As they tidied up the room, a lot of small touches were involved. Hands on the small of each other’s back when they passed by, hands brushing shoulders, just random little reassurance that they were still there, together, and they weren’t going to leave each other's side.

Percy was folding clothes, just putting them in a bag he had brought from his mom’s place, and while cleaning was supposed to distract his mind, it didn’t, and so he began to think, and before he knew it, he let out a sob. He didn’t want to. He wanted to try and stay together through all of this. Yet, as he thought of the situation, tears kept coming. 

He was sitting down in one of those uncomfortable hospital chairs when he felt two arms wrap around his shoulders. The smell of vanilla comforted him as Nico hugged him. The son of Hades kissed Percy’s shoulders as he continued to sob. He brought his hand up, hiding his face slightly.

“It’s going to be fine,” Nico whispered. “We’ll be able to make it through this.” He said, bringing his hand up to Percy’s hair. He ran his nimble fingers through Percy’s dark hair. 

Percy wanted to believe what Nico was saying, but he didn’t. He had tried to convince himself that those things were true, but it didn’t look like it would be anymore. 

“I love you so much, and we’ll make it through this,” Nico continued to whisper. “No matter what happens, we’ll be fine, all three of us, we’ll live in our house, and we’ll be those parents that bring freshly baked cookies to class parties and bring team snacks to practices that involve peeled oranges and apple slices,”

Percy couldn’t help but smile at the thought, but it was tear-streaked and it wasn’t a smile of ‘Oh, can’t wait for this to happen.’ it was a ‘This could happen, but it won’t anymore, but damn it would have been so great.’

Nico was clearly getting choked up. “And we’ll be on the PTA, and we’ll help coach soccer or the swim team, hopefully she pursues something to do with your genes, because I don’t really want her raising skeletons in her bedroom.” 

“That would be very bad.” Percy chuckled through tears.

“It really would,” Nico agreed, also giving a tear-clogged laugh. “But no matter what she’s going to be perfect and we’re going to be those parents, and all three of us are going to be that … that fam - family w-with a d-dog and h-has a f-family g-g-game ni-night a-and… and…” Nico cut himself off and began crying with Percy.

-

They thought she would be out of surgery by the time the sun was going down, unfortunately, they were wrong. They started getting ready to at least lay down. They knew they weren’t going to get any sleep, but laying down was better than sitting up.

The TV in the room was giving off noise, but at a very low volume. For the most part, the two demigods stared off into space, thinking, their eyes red. They wanted to talk to each other, maybe have that as a distraction, unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen. Anytime they tried to start a conversation, it died quickly, neither one of them really having the energy to keep it going. 

“Do you think these shows are scripted?” Nico asked, looking at the TV, which was playing ‘Family Feud’. 

Percy looked up and watched as someone on the ‘Lee’ side got a question right. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

“It just seems like if they were real people, it would be kind of boring. But at the same time, it’s unpredictable, I don’t know.”

“Anything could be scripted, depends on the actors if people find out or not. If you have crappy acting,” He reasoned. “People can tell it’s scripted.”

“That’s true,” Nico sighed, going back to staring at the TV as the same family got their second red X. 

It was a few more moments before their room door opened. They both shot up so quickly it was almost comical. “She’s out of surgery now.” Came a female voice. The lights were off but the lamps were on, so Percy was able to see it was Kate. “Would you like to go see her and we can talk more then?” The doctor was obviously tired. She just spent hours on a single surgery without a break, she had a right to be a bit tired.

“Yes please,” Percy said, getting up, Nico following in pursuit. Percy and Nico followed the other demigod back into the NICU. A ways away from everyone they saw a baby, their baby, connected up to more wires than Percy remembered from last time. Nico’s hand found the Percy’s as they got closer. Percy squeezed the smaller hand, taking a deep breath as Zoella’s features were easier to see. 

Her eyes were more opened than Nico had ever seen them. Apparently babies (especially preemies) have a problem with opening their eyes. Nico didn’t get it, Percy didn’t get it, but it was just how it worked. However, her dark hair seemed to resemble Nico’s, almost black, but obviously brown. Percy couldn’t help but smile. He was finally seeing his baby girl again.

He wanted to hold her so bad. 

“Her surgery to fix her lung was very successful,”

Percy waited for the other shoe to drop.

“However,”

There it was.

“It seems her liver is indeed failing. I opened her up to get a better look, only to be revealed to me that her intestines are following in pursuit, which means she’s at risk for multi-system failure.” 

Nico and Percy didn’t stop looking at Zoella and waited for Kate to continue on. “And even if we got organs to transplant, to give a liver and small intestine transplant, the chances of them not taking are large. Which means, the chances of getting either one of those things are rare, impossible actually. Are only option is to find out what’s the cause of the problems and fix that,”

Kate took another break, obviously trying to find out how she was going to word everything.

“However, among further inspection while I was in surgery, I found that she had nothing there that was causing any of this.”

Percy knew what that meant, but wanted - needed - to hear it to honestly be able to believe it, understand it, accept it.

“And even with my healing powers given to me from my dad I was still unable to fix anything. I have not yet found a disease I couldn’t at least locate with my demigod powers. Which means, the problems Zoella is facing are not from being a preemie, and maybe not even because of her strong genetics that had caused the horrible morning sickness, or 24/7 sickness really, the problems Zoella is facing is from the gods themselves.”

‘Called it.’ Percy thought.


	32. 032

(a/n: this chapter is probably going to be shorter than usual. i’m sorry)

The last two days had been nothing but pain for Nico. He watched as Zoella got nothing but worse. It got to a point where it was a shock if someone hadn’t rushed to Zoella’s side every now and then to check quickly if she was okay. There was no cuddling and kissing their newborn babies face. There wasn’t any cute smiles or grumpy cries. The only thing to be heard was the heavy breathing their daughter was struggling to achieve. 

Percy and Nico didn’t leave Zoella’s side. The sat in two chairs, hand in hand, only able to watch their daughter get more ill. Nothing was seeming to help. Kate was always reading up on things, trying to find something that could get her a transplant. Alas, nothing worked. 

Shane kept checking up on the three demigods. Making sure they were eating and all that. 

Kate tried not to bother Nico and Percy with her random medical facts, but still, she would always be running in to do tests to see if she was eligible for something.

And every test ended in a ‘nope, sorry, too sick.’ And if it wasn’t ‘too sick’ it was ‘too young’ or ‘too different’ ‘too much of a special case.’ Nico and Percy actually talked to one of the doctors that were running a trial and they actually answered with ‘No can do, she’s a lost cause.’

That really put them down. Nico started crying, Percy hung up the phone angrily. Kate had gone back to looking for other answers.

It had been at least two hours since that last call and they were now trying to forget the words ‘lost cause’ as the held each other close. 

“She’s in s-so much p-pain,” Nico said, his voice shaky, Percy almost couldn’t understand what he was saying.He also didn’t know how to respond to that. There was no ‘she’ll be getting better’ because they didn’t know if she would be getting better.

He wanted to be optimistic, he wanted to be able to say that Zoella would get better, but he knew that wasn’t likely. 

“Let’s say she lived through all of this, what kind of life would she have? Would it be full of doctor’s visits? Will she ever be able to run outside without getting winded or hurt? Is she constantly going to be frustrating when she can’t do things the other kids can?” Nico cried, looking at his daughter. “Why couldn’t the gods just leave us alone, I just want her to be happy and healthy and I want the fucking gods to leave u-us alone,” Nico said as he started to sob. He turned his head into Percy’s chest.

“I know, I know,” Percy said, kissing the top of Nico’s head, then gently resting his chin on top of Nico’s dark locks. “You’d think they would.”

Percy felt tears roll down his face and made no effort to wipe them away, silently crying as he rubbed his hand up and down Nico’s back. “You really think they would.” Percy sighed.

-

Two more hours passed and Nico and Percy had fallen asleep on those uncomfortable chairs next to Zoella’s bed. Shane walked in and sighed, not knowing what to do. He didn’t want to wake them up, they would need all the sleep they could get, but he also needed to take Zoella’s blood pressure and wasn’t sure if he should do so without them knowing.

Though, after a few moments of contemplation, he decided they would be fine with. “Hey, baby girl.” He said, sighing sadly. He slid his gloved hands into the previously locked holes in the side of the incubator. He took Zoella’s hand and wrapped the tiny sleeve around her arm. 

Working delicately was hard to do with gloves on and a mask covering part of his vision, but he had to do it for many reasons. Zoella’s immune system was too weak to handle germs or anything really. Shane knew he had to be careful.

“We’re going to try our hardest to get you all better,” He sighed, pumping the blood pressure pump. “It’s going to be hard, but we’re all trying. Me, Doctor Holt, and your dads, none of us are giving up on you. That’s what all these tests are for, to get you better,” He said, smiling weakly at the end. “We’re going to try everything we can.”

Zoella wasn’t able to respond, she didn’t cry, smile, anything. All she did was continue to struggling breathing, a tube down her throat assisting her. Now having her blood pressure, Shane pulled his hands out, writing down the information.

“Get better, baby girl.” He sighed. He walked over to the shelves they had along the walls of the NICU and pulled out a blanket from one of the cabinets. It was a awful yellow color, and wasn’t that comfortable, but it was warm. He fluffed it out and placed it on the two adult demigods. 

-

Percy woke up heavily panting, tears in his eyes. He had a dream. 

It was him and Nico, they looked as if they had gotten married, at least if the rings on their fingers had any indication, but they also had a girl with them. They were in the woods, a cabin the only thing protecting them from the harsh winds outside. Then he saw a girl, rushing over with a handful of towels. “This’s all I could find-” her voice was young. She had to be only three, four, barely able to walk. And even in his dream, he knew it was Zoella. 

But the dream instantly flashed, the scene changing.

Now they were outside. It was cloudy and all their friends were there. Nico and Percy were hand in hand. Ringless this time. Both crying. Chiron spoke as they wished their daughter good luck and safe passage to the underworld. Zoella was dead, and they were at her funeral. Percy couldn’t handle it. It was his worst nightmare.

And the dream seemed to be shifting, but that’s when Percy woke up, tears rolling down his face.

He looked down to find Nico resting on him, a blanket on top of them. He then glanced up and saw his daughter, laying down in the incubator, eyes closed, seeming to be sleeping. In a daze, Percy brought his hand back up to rub Nico’s back, the action calming him, grounding him back to reality. 

He planted a kiss to the top of Nico’s head took in his scent. Vanilla. It calmed him. He brought his eyes back up to look at Zoella, the sweet girl trying so hard to stay alive, to keep breathing. Percy wished so badly he could trade places with her. For him to be the sick one instead, he wouldn’t even have to think about it.

He didn’t care if he would die. According to data, he should have died a few years ago, that was the average life expectancy of Greek demigods. He used to think that was such an amazing thing, and he would throw it away instantly right now to save his daughter.

Nico continued sleeping on his chest and as Zoella did the same, everything else felt so calm. Like it could even get better, but Percy knew deep down, it was more of a calm before the storm.

-

Everything. Kate had tried everything. She had spent the last hours looking for anything to save Zoella. She was almost positive she had found every single chance for Zoella that she could, and every single one turned her away. She was just too difficult of a case. 

She hated giving up, she hated not having answers. She hated the feeling of knowing there was pretty much nothing else she could do. Zoella was such a beautiful baby girl, and to throw in the towel physically hurt. 

But she just didn’t know what to do anymore. She had no other options. She knew there was nothing else she could do. Everything was out of her reach. Her mortal medicine wasn’t going to be able to help Zoella.The only thing that was going to help her was the gods. And everyone knows how much those assholes care.

-

Nico had woken up a few hours later and was now leaning his head on Percy’s shoulder, Percy’s arm around Nico, who was holding his hand in his own. He was resting his lips on the knuckles, occasionally kissing the digits, almost as a reminder he was there, because even holding Percy’s hand, Nico sometimes forgot he wasn’t alone. 

They had stayed that way for a few more moments before Kate walked in. Shane trailed in behind her, both of them looked beyond sad. They didn’t say any words until they were standing on the other side of Zoella. Shane stood a few inches back, finding a sudden interest in the floor.

“We need to talk to you about something.” Kate said, looking at both of the male demigods directly knowing that what she was about to say, wasn’t going to sink into their brains.

Percy and Nico were already sitting straighter, giving the doctor their full attention.

“I have tried everything possible to help Zoella, to find a cure, or something to keep her alive until we can find something to actually cure her,” She began, trying not to look at Zoella who was fighting to stay alive below her. “But everything I’ve tried, or found, just won’t work.”

Nico had no clue how to react to that so he just leant back in his chair, wide eyed, as he listened to what else Doctor Holt had to say. “And I think you know this, but I’ll just go ahead and tell you, every second, Zoella gets more ill.”

Nico nodded his head, Percy clenched his fist. He didn’t want to hear what he thought was going to come next.

“And as more of her organs fail, her pain grows, and we can’t giver her antibiotics to soothe that pain, so every second, she’s suffering more and more,” Kate said, still having more to say, but she was stalling.

“And, in my medical opinion, I believe it would be best to,” She sighed. “Withdraw care and let nature take its course with Zoella.”

Shane closed his eyes, Nico began to sob, and Percy clenched his jaw, and in the background, the sound of the pipes bursting could be heard, followed by hectic nurses rushing over to clean up the mess.   
(a/n: shorter than usual. the next chapter’s going to wreck y’all)


	33. 033

Today was the day. Upon hearing the news Dr.Holt had delivered a few hours before, Percy and Nico knew they would have to come to a decision. Today. It seemed like an easy choice to make. ‘No, we keep on fighting, we’ve gotten this far, why the hell would we give up now?’ Unfortunately, nothing in life was that simple. The answer they both wanted to easily say was ‘Keep Fighting’ because that’s what they wanted to do. Then, they’d take a hard look at their daughter, their Zoella, and see how they wires and machines were the only thing keeping her alive, and they slowly began to realize.

She truly is in so much pain. And they were simply prolonging said pain. The entire situation made the new demigod parents hate life. They hadn’t spoken to each other in the last three house since Kate had delivered the news. They sat alone together, being consumed by their thoughts of the decisions they had to make.

Nico remembered how hard he fought to keep Zoella safe, he remembered the warnings he was given, how he should give up and carrying a child would be the hardest thing he ever had to do. He was told how he’d go up to the gods and beg for them to handle it in a way they pleased. He remembered how against it he was, how he knew he could do it. 

And, he had. He had handled everything he could, the vomiting, the pain, the weird moods. He was able to take care of it all, but in the end, all the physical pain he had been through, it didn’t compare to right now. This was the hardest, because now he was watching as his daughter was in an immense amount of pain, and he could do nothing about it.

Telling them, allowing them, to withdraw from care seemed like he would be killing Zoella. He felt like saying it was okay to unplug the machines and remove the tubes, was practically the same thing as taking a blade and drawing it to Zoella himself. He was split into two sides, one being his protective side, that was the side that told him to keep on fighting, that Zoella would come out of this.

Unfortunately, logicality was the other side, and it - well, being logical. It reminded him Zoella was hardly a few days old and in so much pain and how if she did make it through his, she would still be in pain with the amount of surgeries she would need to get the transplants, and her heart fixed, how she may become frustrated because she can’t do what the other kids on the street can.

Nico continued crying. He couldn't really seem to stop. It wasn’t sobbing, he wasn’t screaming profanities while tears rushed down his face. He was just sitting there, staring at some fixed point behind Zoella’s bed, a stream of tears constantly flowing. 

Percy was in no better state, he sat by Nico’s side. Their hands were intertwined as he took in the details of Zoella’s face, not entirely sure if he would have an entire lifetime to be able to remember it. He was more than aware that this may be the last few moments with her. He wished he wasn’t aware. Obliviousness is a gift, one that he was not granted. 

“Whatever happens,” Nico began, his voice so weak it was hardly audible. “I love you.” He said, turning around to look Percy in the eye. 

“I love you, too,” Percy said, his voice not doing much better. “That will never change, no matter what may come.” Percy squeezed Nico’s hand momentarily, a sign of reassurance, before letting go completely and standing up. Nico looked up at him with questioning eyes. “I have to check on my half sister,” he answered. Nico understood.

Did he understand exactly why at this moment Percy had to go and make sure Makayla was okay at this exact moment? Nope. Though, after a few seconds to organize his thoughts, he concluded it was probably more of a ‘I need to talk to Chiron thing’ than a ‘Is Makayla okay?’ thing. The son of Hades never understood exactly the relationship between Percy and the Centaur, but he did know, that in some form of way, Chiron was a sort of paternal figure for Percy. And just so happened to be educated on Greek Mythology, and on his side.

Which made it easier to talk about things like this to him, than with his mom. Now, of course he was going to talk to his mom, she was the best at calming him down, soothing him and telling him it was alright, but he needed someone who would fully understand everything as he ranted.

“Okay,” Nico smiled weakly. Ending it there as Percy walked out the NICU, passing all the sad parents, some also losing hope. Percy wished that he himself couldn’t be classified with that title, he was sure none of the parents there wanted to be either, but there they were.

Percy made his way down the hall where two bathrooms were, he went in the one labeled ‘males’ and was thankful no one was occupying it. The inside wasn’t exactly welcoming. Off-yellow walls were dirty, and the toilet wasn’t in a good condition. The sink was rusting slightly and the tiles were chipped. You would think that if you were a hospital, your bathrooms would be up to date with the health department’s rules, unfortunately, this one was not.

However, in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter, because all that mattered in that moment was that the rusting sink worked, and was able to hold water. Enough water, for enough time, for Percy to call Camp. He was a bit petty towards the almighty goddess, Iris, sense she was technically the one who snitched on him and Nico. She had overheard Nico and Reyna’s conversation and rushed to the Olympians (as far as Percy knew, she could have gossiped around to other gods and goddesses, and they snitched) but nonetheless, he blamed her.

He tried to put those feelings besides him as he prayed to her, begging for the goddess to put him through to Chiron. He knew his prayers were answered when the welcoming face of his former teacher and current camp leader was visible. “Chiron…” Percy said, relief flooding his voice.

“Hello, Percy, son of Poseidon,” He said warmly. “How’s everything going at Camp J?”

Percy found it weird that he would even use the abbreviation. He chose to ignore it. “I know you know why I’m calling you.”

The old centaur sighed. “Yes, unfortunately, I do,”

Percy quickly got to the point. “Do you know the condition she’s in?” Percy asked, making sure Chiron was up to speed with everything.

Chiron nodded.

“Can you please tell me something, be as brutally honest as you can. If we continue treatment. If we don’t give up, what are the chances of… of… her make, making it.” Percy gripped the sides of the sink, not wanting to lose control. 

“You want brutally honest?” The centaur asked, looking at Percy directly in the eye.

“Yes,” Percy said, not sure if he really did.

Chiron was quiet for a moment before answering. A sigh escaping his lips, followed by: “It would take a miracle,”

Percy didn’t say goodbye or thank the head of Camp Half Blood. He instead waved angrily through the screen and punched the wall beside him. He rarely ever got miracles.

-  
Percy heard a beautiful tune as he walked back into the NICU. He assumed it was someone walking by, not a care in the world, but when he came in, he noticed it was Nico. His hand pressed against the strong plastic of the incubator, looking down at their baby girl, tears rolling down his face.

Even if it was just humming, Nico had an amazing voice.

Once Nico saw him, he stopped humming and watched as Percy walked back in the NICU, his eyes were red and Nico really notice just how tired the son of Poseidon looked, of course, he knew he couldn’t look much better. They both looked a wreck. Everything that had happened in such a short span of time had really taken a toll on them. 

“Is she okay?” Nico asked, wanting to focus on literally anything else than what they may have to decide later on.

“Hm?” He asked, clearly not sure what Nico was talking about.

“Makayla?”

“Oh,” He said like it didn’t register. “Oh, yeah, she’s fine, loves it when Malcolm takes care of her, they’re really getting close,” Percy said.

Nico nodded his head. “That’s, that’s good,”

Percy sighed, sitting back down in his seat next to the son of Hades. “Yeah,” He looked at his daughter who was still struggling to breathe. The words ‘A miracle’ repeating in his head. 

Percy had more tears rolling down his face before he knew it. Nico reached for his hand, tears streaming down his face, and looked down at Zoella. She was so sick.

After the news was heard, Nico, Percy, and Zoella were moved into a private-ish room. It was just a room with very large windows so that they could have some privacy to make the decision, they could still see out fine, and people could look in, but they were able to talk, and they were able to close the blinds if it had gotten really bad.

The door to that room was open, but they heard a knock. Nico’s gaze shot towards the noise. The two male demigods saw the glum faces of Kate and Shane. Shane held a clipboard in his hand, a thin stack of papers pinned down to it. “May we?” Kate asked, Nico nodded sadly. He was afraid that he knew what was coming next. 

“What we’re about to ask you, is going to be one of the hardest questions in your lives to answer.” Kate said, walking into their room and taking a seat. “Have you come to a conclusion about the care of the baby?”

Nico usually really liked Dr. Katelyn Holt. He knew she was hard working and kind. He knew that she would do what was best for them, yet he also noticed the small things she would do. She had slowly stopped saying ‘Your daughter’ and ‘Zoella’ she only referred to her as ‘The baby’. Nico knew this cheap tactic, and he didn’t like it, not one bit. He knew what the detachment meant. It meant Kate wanted to make the loss of Zoella easier on them.

“Not really,” Percy answered. 

“I understand, but we’ll need an answer soon,” the Doctor said, gesturing for Shane to hand her the clipboard. Shane complied. Nico didn’t like the looks of them. “If you decide to withdraw care from the baby, sign these papers.” She handed Nico the clipboard. The new parent’s eyes scanned over the words. Kate continued talking. “We’ll be back in about half an hour or so, and keep in mind -”

Kate kept talking, but Nico couldn’t register her words, just the ones he was reading. These were the documents that would give the hospital permission to withdraw life saving care from Zoella, and he and Percy were the only two who could make that decision.

-

As soon as Kate left, Nico looked over at Percy. It was as if they were having a conversation. They were both on the same, sullen page. They both knew what had to be done, they just didn’t want to do it. Nico looked back down at the papers in his trembling hands. “It’ll be okay,” came Percy’s voice. “It’s okay.” Percy’s more steady hands covered Nico’s. 

“No, it’s not,”

“Yeah, it’s not,” Percy sighed.

Nico removed his hands out of Percy’s and reached for the pen on the top of the clipboard. He scanned the papers one more time, and while tears fell from his eyes, he signed where he was told. Percy rested his chin on Nico’s shoulder as the son of Hades initialed at a certain point. 

All that could be heard was the constant hum of the machines and the sound of the pen. ‘Nico di Angelo, Nico di Angelo, Nico di Angelo, NdA, NdA, Nico di Angelo, NdA’ over and over again. He wiped away the tears as they fell until he was done. His hands were still trembling as he handed the papers over to Percy.

Percy followed the same steps. His name, in much more sloppy penmanship, next to Nico’s. ‘Perseus Jackson, Perseus Jackson, Perseus Jackson, PJ, PJ, Perseus Jackson, PJ’. Once Percy had signed his name for the final time, the stared down at the documents, not sure what to do now. 

Nico did the same, his eyes tracing over the fresh ink of their signatures. It was official. They were pulling the plug, allowing for the hospital to purposely stop helping their daughter. Nico placed his hand on Percy’s back. Percy placed the clipboard on the shelves beside them. He reached his hand out and rested it on the plastic like material of Zoella’s ‘incubator’

“I’m sorry.” Percy whispered, pulling his hand away after only a few seconds of it being placed there. “So sorry,” He said under his breath, hanging his head. 

-

When Kate came around the next time, Nico couldn’t hand her the papers. It took about three minutes for the transaction to happen. 

Shane stayed while Kate ran to hand in the contract to the hospital, putting it on permanent record that Percy and Nico had given up on their daughter. They knew it was for the best, they knew she was in pain, but there was still a part of them that hated the thought and wanted to stay optimistic.

However, the deal was done. In moments, Kate would walk back into the room and tell them that Zoella’s time was officially up. Nico wanted to ask if they could stop what they just did, if they could crumple up the papers, but a part of him knew this was for the best and asking would only make him tempted to do it.

The room was silent as they waited for Kate. Every click of a heel or door opening sent a shiver down Nico’s spine and made his heart jump. He was a sobbing mess but he didn’t care. How could he care? Percy wasn’t much better, both demigods sobbed looking at their beautiful baby girl, and how she would never be able to have a life.

It felt like giving up, but they knew there was nothing else to do, Zoella’s organs were failing. She was slowly dying and was in such extreme pain that wouldn’t be stopping anytime soon. 

Another knock on the door. It was Kate. Nico wasn’t ready. His chest felt tight, he wanted to stop it, yell and shout and force the papers to be cancelled and that they made a mistake. Everything was all too real, it all hurt too much to know they were saying goodbye to their daughter.

“No, please, no,” He whispered, his voice sore, Percy had his head in his hands, repeating the words ‘oh, gods, no’ over and over again, in multiple variations.

“Please tell me it’s not -” Percy began, looking up at the doctor with red, puffy eyes.

“I’m so sorry, but it is,” Kate said, walking closer to the boys. “I’m going to go through what steps we’re taking, and what will happen, just so you’re prepared, and I won’t do anything before you’re aware of everything that’s going on, but it is, unfortunately, time,”

Nico couldn’t say anything, just stare at the doctor, Percy doing the same. Both boys had tears running down their face. Even Shane, who was sitting in the back, was tearing up. 

“First,” Kate began, sighing. “We’re going to unplug her from the ventilators. Which will stop assisting her breathing.” Nico let out a choked sob at those words, but quickly tried to regain himself. “She’ll still be able to breathe on her own for a little while after, sometimes that can be two minutes, or it can be a few hours, there is no set time,” Kate said. 

Percy reached for Nico’s hand for reassurance. 

“And as soon as the wires are removed, we’ll remove the breathing tube, and after that, we hand the baby to you.”

The first time they were going to ever be able to hold their baby, was also going to be the last. Nico couldn’t believe it. He seriously couldn’t wrap his mind around it. 

“There’s a bed behind you, and I would recommend getting on that before all this starts,” Kate explained. “Because, once again, we have no clue if she could keep fighting for a few hours, and you’ll be able to truly enjoy these precious moments a lot more if you’re a little more comfortable,”

Nico slowly nodded. Shane decided that was his time to step in. He helped Nico stand up. Percy’s followed in pursuit. They adjusted themselves on the bed, which wasn’t that far away from where they were previously. 

Percy was sitting against the pillows, and Nico was leaving against him, half not. Their shoulders were together, and Percy had one arm wrapped against Nico. Nico wanted to say something, rather it be to reassure Percy, reassure himself, or just clear something up and fucked up situation less fucked, but he couldn’t. Any words that might have came out, dissolved and got caught in his throat. 

“Once her time comes,” Kate began once they were adjusted and looking over at Zoella. “We will then take her and store her body while we can discuss what you would like to do with her,” Kate said, even her voice seeming to shake now. 

That’s one of the things Nico hadn’t thought about. What they were going to do with her after she passes. Every question seemed impossible to answer. Everything that was happening seemed godsdamn impossible and Nico wanted everything to just slow down. 

“Right now,” She said, opening the incubator. “I am removing the ventilator,” She said, doing just that. There were two of them, and she removed them both in a matter of seconds. Nico knew she did this a lot, it was her job, but still, she was able to do it like it was nothing. She was able to unplug his daughter like it was no big deal.

“And now,” She said, walking over to the head of the incubator, “I’ll be removing the breathing tube.” lifting Zoella’s chin and pulling the tube out. After placing the tube on a tray nearby, she rushed around to the opening of the incubator and picked Zoella up. She still had one wire attached, but Nico wasn’t going to question anything.

“You’re going to want to make sure you cradle the head,” She said as she handed them their daughter. They both managed to hold her. Nico was the one cradling her head, and Percy had his arm wrapped protectively around the rest of the body.

They both looked at her face, it seemed like she was so peaceful, which made Nico wonder if she was really in all that much pain. Then, he thought about how all her organs were dying and realized she was in so much pain, that she was weakened, and didn’t have energy to react. 

“This wire, right here.” Kate motioned to the wire Nico had noticed earlier. “Is connected to this, which is monitoring her heart beats. When we unplug it, we will no longer be able to track that, and we’ll no longer know when everything starts, and by starts, I mean her time begins to approach,”

The two dads didn’t respond.

“That’s when nature begins to take its course,” Kate said, reaching over to the machine, just about to flick the switch and finish the routine.

Nico was crying as he looked at his daughter. It was over. All over.

He would never have a chance to raise his daughter.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

Everything was over. Zoella was going to die. They were out of options, out of luck. Everything the gods had promised, was coming. They weren’t going to allow Percy and Nico the privilege of raising a child together. It was so surreal. Nico felt like everything was zooming by, while happening extremely slow.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

It was over. So, so over, and it hurt so godsdamn much.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

The door swung open. “Stop!”

a/n: oh the suspense.

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, I am aware that they are both in there Percabeth and Solangelo relationships. If this upsets you, you are forced to continue reading, but I have an amazing idea of where this will go, and it was just needed. Thanks for reading this far <3


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